Kantar Exec: Radio Political Revenue To Jump 10% to 20%

March 8, 2016

That’s according to Steven Passwaiter, the director-business development for Kantar Media’s Campaign Analysis Group. In an Advertising Age interview Passwaiter says that increase has a lot to do with how radio’s biggest company, iHeartmedia has set up shop in Washington this year, specifically targeting political campaigns and explaining how radio can target voters. iHeartMedia has a 10-person political team in D.C., and another 150 salespeople across the country all focused on political. Passwaiter says “By setting up shop here, and in a meaningful way, they are showing they are taking it seriously. There is no substitute for actually being here. They have put themselves in a good position to get a piece of all the money that’s going around.”

For years, radio has taken home peanuts of the political ad revenue pie. And iHeartMedia CEO Bob Pittman tells Ad Age that’s the fault of the radio industry. “Radio has never gotten its fair share of political spend, but a lot of that was our fault, because we tried selling what we had instead of what they needed. Campaigns should allocate 15% to 20% of broadcast budgets to radio or risk leaving some voters on the table. It’s not just that radio’s cost per voter impression is much lower, enabling greater frequency; radio’s flexibility also makes it easier to turn on a dime and pivot on key messaging whenever campaigns need it.”

Kenny Day is iHeartMedia’s Senior VP-political sales and strategy, recently joining team Pittman from ad-tech firm BrightRoll. Day says, “iHeartMedia can tell campaigns where moms are, where millennials are, where African-Americans are, across all formats and locales because the company now offers the data and tools to do just that. While this particular election will end in November 2016, we are taking a much broader and longer term view: there are elections taking place all the time across the country — judgeships, gubernatorial, House and Senate, local statehouse elections, local and national ballot initiatives and more.”

Edison: 50% of Americans Listen to Online Radio

March 8, 2016

 

Edison Research continues to dribble out teases leading up to its Infinite Dial webinar this Thursday, presented in conjunction with Triton Digital. The latest tidbit of information is about Online listening which Edison says 50% of Americans now do on a weekly basis.

 

That would mean that about 136 million people listen to radio online every week. So far Edison has not said how that breaks down between Pandora, iHeartRadio, Radio station apps or other streamers. We are told that detail will be part of the Thursday webinar. As you can see by this chart, online listening has come a long way. In 200 only 2% of respondents in the study said they listened to radio online.

As you can see by this chart, online listening has come a long way. In 200 only 2% of respondents in the study said they listened to radio online.