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Podcast company Panoply have launched the Panoply Pilot Project. The project asks listeners to select new shows to turn into a full season. Listeners can offer feedback on each show and also vote for the ones they want to hear as a regular series. Users can vote by subscribing to their favourite podcast on iTunes or voting on their webpage. I can see nothing but positive things resulting from this project, it is a brilliant way to increase listener retention, brand awareness and listener engagement.

Listener Retention

The Panoply Pilot Project has incorporated several techniques to increase listener retention. First of all, a vote is cast when a listener subscribes to their favourite podcast. This means this if this podcast was to win, listeners will see the next episode in their podcast feed without having to actively search for it. The podcast sitting in a listener’s feed will make them much more likely to listen to it as it is already in their mind.

Another way the Panoply Pilot Project will increase listener retention is by sparking their curiosity. Listeners will return to Panoply  to find out which podcast has won once the competition is over.

Brand Awareness and Listener Engagement

The listeners who really like a podcast and would love to hear more of it would most likely turn to their friends and family to encourage them to listen in and vote for their favourite. The most passionate listeners might turn to social media to persuade their followers to vote for their favourite; spreading campaign and brand awareness. People will also engage with Panoply’s social media pages by sharing posts or leaving comments; not only increasing brand awareness but also listener engagement.

P-p-p-leaaaase make #BuyTheBook happpppen, @panoply! #PanoplyPilots

— PodcastPodcast (@LoveYourPodcast) March 24, 2017

Feedback

Not only does the Panoply Pilot Project help expand their audience, it is also a way for Panoply to get feedback. It will give Panoply a broader understanding of what their audience wants. Furthermore, the audience reaction will give Panoply a good idea of how successful the podcast is going to be. Panoply chief content officer, Andy Bowers, said “We’re looking at how many people actually do engage and whether it’s a useful way to help us determine what makes a good podcast.”

Most radio stations are free to listen to because listeners are not the customers; they are the product being sold and make up the radio station’s audience. The listening audience, similar to a TV audience and social media users, are the product being sold to advertisers. This is how radio stations make money; through advertising. Extra income also comes from sponsored content and events (however, this is also a form of a advertising) as well as charging callers.

On-Air Advertising

On-air advertising make up a great proportion of radio station’s revenue. Stations sell airtime to companies who want to reach an audience with messages about their products or services. The positioning of advertising spots; the length of each spot; time of day they air; and the show during which the spot airs can each impact its value and price. For example, spots that air immediately after a show moves to commercial or right before the show returns tend to have the highest price. Stations would also charge more for an advertising spot that is aired during a popular show or during peak listening times (e.g. rush hour).

Online Advertising

Other types of advertisement can also bring in extra revenue to radio stations. Stations with active and high traffic websites can make a lot of money from placing adverts on their website; this can take the form of banner ads or video ads.

Stations who post a lot of content on social media can also make some extra profit. Stations who post on YouTube (e.g. on-air highlights) can place ads before a video and get money this way.

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Sponsored Content

Another way for radio stations to make money is by having brands pay radio stations to have radio presenters endorse and promote products/services on air. This is a great way for companies to advertise their products because listeners love and trust their favourite radio presenters and so products will appear more appealing. However, it must be clear to listeners that this content is a commercial arrangement. Branded content can also take the form of an article which radio stations can then publish to their website and share on social media.

Sponsored content is a great way to build brand awareness as stations frequently mention the brand’s name and positioning. Furthermore, over time a positive association of the brand can build in the listener’s mind. Sponsored content also reaches an audience in a less direct way so the audience tends not to think of the message as an advertisement but more as a helpful piece of information.

Charging Callers

One method radio stations use to make extra income is through charging callers. Stations encourage their listeners to call or text in for a chance to be featured on air or to enter a competition. The station then charges a small fee to each incoming caller and makes a profit through this. However, stations must clearly tell their listeners that callers will be charged.

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Sponsored Events

Radio stations can also make money through hosting an event or supporting an advertising partner’s event. Not only do these sponsored event attract new listeners, but they also bring in extra revenue through merchandising and ticket sales.

Selling Newscasts

Some radio stations, especially those who focus a lot on news, sell news stories to other stations across the country. This way, the stations who buy the news stories do not need to focus on managing reporters and news anchors etc. to broadcast news updates.

As a radio station, you may choose some or all of the above methods. What you do depends on your station’s positioning, your focus and your audience.

To learn about which approach your station could take, sign up for a free consult here.

According to data released last week by Edison Research and Triton Digital, recognition of podcasting has increased. Familiarity with the term podcasting, having remained rather static from 2009 to 2015, has shown more than a twenty percent increase in the past two years. Now, an estimated 168 million Americans, 12 years and up, are familiar with the term. Podcasting consumption has also hit a new high, with 40% of Americans having ever listened to a podcast. An estimated 67 million of Americans are now listening to podcasts at least monthly.

Similar to radio, podcast audience members form relationships with hosts. According to AdAge.com, podcasts can engage listeners in a way that traditional media cannot. Furthermore, the podcasts that people download are carefully selected. Therefore, advertisers can perfectly target their audience depending on passions and interests.

What is interesting about this, however, is that a huge amount of brands are still not seeing the value in advertising with podcasts, even though a study conducted by comScore found that two-thirds of listeners have acted on ads they heard in a podcast either by researching a product or service or by actually purchasing something they first heard about in an episode.

Brands are choosing to stick with the “safer”, more traditional methods, which can often be more costly and time-consuming. Last year, America’s podcasting ad spend stood at a small 167 million dollars. Compare this to TV, where advertisers spent an estimated 72 billion dollars on this platform (Deloitte Global).

The world is turning to podcasts, which can be listened to anywhere – without requiring data usage or an internet connection. The mobility of podcasts means that listeners are consuming loads of content no matter where they are; the gym; at home or on their morning commute; and yet brands are still thinking that television and print media are the best advertising strategies. Let’s not even mention the fact that people find that ads within a podcast the least intrusive when compared with other types of digital adverts (comScore).

On the negative side, podcast advertising today is relatively static. Adverts are embedded within the podcast, so remain the same irrespective of when, where and who is listening to the podcast. However, it does not have to be that way; podcasters who use technologies such as Exaget’s ActiveRadio^® enable dynamic advertising and even connect to ad networks to deliver these advertisements real time.

Radio has been around for over a century and even with the rise of digital, it is still a very powerful medium. Last year, the UK’s commercial radio sector reaped its largest ever annual advertising revenue total, with spending worth £645.8 million (Radiocentre). Radio advertising offers businesses a cheap and quick way to get brand recognition as well as measurable results. Furthermore, radio offers an efficient way to target an audience.

Cost Effective

A huge benefit of radio advertising and what makes it so appealing to brands is that production and broadcast is so inexpensive. Most adverts only need one voice over, maybe two. At a low cost, brands can access sound effects and background music. Many stations offer free production to their advertisers, giving brands access to everything they need to produce a radio advert. Furthermore, advertising on local radio is a lot more cost-effective than television.

Measurable

Whilst advertising with TV takes months to give real measurable results and advertising with print makes it almost impossible to track results, radio advertising gives the ability to track results very quickly and accurately. Advertisers find the accuracy and swiftness of results which radio offers very attractive. It is a lot easier to spot if a radio ad is doing particularly well/badly than any other broadcast medium. This can also be seen within a few days and the fast turnaround time means advertisers do not have to fret over negative results. For example, if an advertiser is not seeing the results that they want, they can change their spot, or test a new message quickly and with little hassle.

Expedient

Another benefit of radio advertising is the speed at which radio adverts can air. It can take months for a high quality television advert to air. On the other hand, a quality radio advert can be written, produced and aired in as little as one week. Radio stations also allow advertisers to revise their messages at very short notice.

Targeted

Advertising with radio also hits a target audience easily. Local brands will benefit from the fact that your station’s audience is local. Local radio attracts people who want to keep up with everything local; be it local news; events or personalities.

Furthermore, advertisers can reach a specific target audience with radio. Radio stations know their audience demographics and allow advertisers to tailor and localise messages to each audience. Because each radio station operates with specific market segments in mind, advertisers can target a specific gender, age economic status or even people’s likes/dislikes.

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Combats Ad Avoidance

When TV adverts come on, most people will go on their phone or divert their attention until their show comes back on. With radio, you cannot ‘switch your ears off’; we hear even when we are not listening. This means that even if we are diverting out attention to other things, we still automatically process music and sound bites and then link them to brands. It is extremely difficult for radio listeners to avoid adverts. Therefore, it is a lot easier to engage with an audience on radio than other mediums.

Intimate

Last but not least, Radio is an intimate form of advertising. Listeners develop relationship with their favourite stations and bond with the radio presenters; a lot of listeners listen to the radio alone, such as when they are travelling or before going to sleep. Listeners usually trust their favourite station a lot, making them more likely to trust the station’s advertisers and therefore lead them to make purchases.

Edison Research and Triton Digital last night unveiled their yearly Infinite Dial study, where they show American consumer usage of media and technology, including coverage of digital audio, social media, mobile smart speakers and podcast consumption.

The Infinite Dial study uses the “gold standard” of nationally representative survey research. The study has become the report card on digital audio and other digital media.

Key findings include:

• Time spent listening to online radio has surged to an all-time high, with listeners spending 14 hours and 39 minutes a week listening to online radio.
• Pandora dominated audio brands with 86% aware of the brand.
• 2 in 5 Americans have listened to a podcast in their lifetime.
• Radio continues to dominate in-car audio with 47% using it as their primary source of car audio.
• Snapchat is the most used social media platform amongst 12-24 year olds.

Online Radio

An estimated 170 million Americans 12 years old and up listen to online radio each month, this is 61% of American adults and teens, this is up by 4% from last year. It’s mostly the younger generation listening to online radio, with 87% of 12-24 year old listening to online radio.

Time spent listening to online radio has surged to an all-time high with weekly online radio listeners spending an average of 14 hours and 39 minutes a week listening to online radio. This growth, from 12:08 in 2016 to 14:39 in 2017, is possibly due to the continued growth in smartphone listening.

Online radio listening in car is up by 3% from last year with 4 in 10 Americans 12+ saying that they have listened to internet radio in car by listening to the stream from a cell phone that they have connected to a car audio system.

Audio brands

Pandora continues to dominate audio brand awareness, although Spotify has made notable gains, especially amongst 12-24 year old Americans.

According to the data, 86% of respondents were aware of Pandora, followed by iHeartRadio with 71% awareness. Spotify came third with 62% and Apple Music and Amazon Music followed closely with both at 60% awareness.

Furthermore, 32% of respondents said they had listened in the last month to Pandora, but Spotify is a strong second at 18%. iHeartRadio followed with 13% having listened to them and Apple Music only had 8% listening to them in the past month.

However, 45% of people aged 21-24 year old had listened to Spotify in the past month whereas 6% less had listened to Pandora (45%). Both iHeartRadio and Apple music have 19% of 12-24 year old listening to them in the past month.

It was interesting to see that the top audio brands were those who made their own content, for example Spotify (who make their own playlists) and Pandora (who tailor their music for each individual). The less popular audio brands, such as TuneIn Radio just played different radio stations without input.

This concept can equally be applied to radio stations. The stations that own their own app and regularly post content to it to engage their listeners tend to be more successful. The stations who are just available to listen on other apps (such as TuneIn Radio) tend to be the less successful ones, as they have no additional  content and thus have less means of engaging with their audience.

Podcasting

Recognition of podcasting has continued to grown. The Infinite Dial has shown that familiarity with the term ‘Podcasting’ has gradually increased over the past decade. Now, 6 in 10 Americans 12+ now familiar with this word. This is up by 11% since 2015.

Podcast listening has also been on a gradual increase over the past decade, with 40% of Americans now having ever listened to a podcast, a number which has risen by 10% since 2014.

Nearly one in four Americans 12+ (24%) have listened to a podcast in the last month, an estimated 67 million. Additionally, an average of five podcasts are listened to per week based on weekly podcast listeners.

Smartphones, tablets and portable devices continue to dominate the device used most often to listen to podcasts. Now, 65% of Americans 12+ are using these portable devices to listen to podcasts. This is up by only 1% since last year, but by 10% since 2015.

52% of Americans who have even listened to a podcast say that the location in which they listen to a podcast most often is at home. This is followed by 18% saying their top location is in car/truck and another 12% saying at work.

In Car Media

Radio continues to dominate in car audio sources. 47% of Americans 18+ who has driven/ridden in a car in the last month said the audio source listened to “most” or “all” of the time in primary car was AM/FM radio. This figure is down by 6% since last year. Owned digital music follows AM/FM radio, with 19%.

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Social Media

Social media usage continues to grow, with now 81% of Americans 12+ using social media (an estimated 226 million).

95% of Americans 12+ are aware of Facebook and 67% use Facebook. One in nine Americans are aware of Twitter although only 23% use it. 88% of Americans are aware of Instagram and one third of Americans are using it.

The younger generation, those aged 12-24 years, use Snapchat the most, with 79% using it. Facebook closely follows, with 76% and Instagram has 73% of Americans 12-24 using the social media site.

The social media brand used the most often based on Americans who currently use any social networking brand is Facebook, with a whopping 62% share. This figure is up by one percent since last year. Snapchat and Instagram both follow in joint second with a 9% share each. 

Today, March 8th 2017, is International Women’s Day 2017. This year, the campaign theme is Be Bold For Change, aiming to forge a better, more inclusive and gender equal working world.

Naturally, this post will be focusing on the working world of women in radio and how these women have helped shape radio.

Kate Smith

The first woman to have her own radio show was Kate Smith in 1931. She began with her twice-a-week NBC series, called Kate Smith Sings, and later expanded to six shows a week. From 1937 to 1945 she led The Kate Smith Hour,  the most popular radio variety. Her final radio show aired in 1958.

Pegeen Fitzgerald

Pegeen Fitzgerald is said to have “pioneered the at-home radio format” (The New York Times). Known as the First Lady of Radio Chatter, Fitzgerald first began broadcasting a radio show with her husband from their New York City apartment. They were the highest paid radio duo and earned roughly $160,000 a year. Their shows covered topics ranging from book reviews and current events. They would also broadcast themselves bickering with each other.

Susan Stamberg

The first women to anchor a national nightly news programme was Susan Stamberg, who hosted NPR’s All Things Considered from 1972 to 1986.

Dorothy Brunson

The first African-American woman to own her own radio station was Dorothy Brunson. She bought Baltimore’s WEBB in 1979 before adding on stations in Atlanta and North Carolina. Dorothy Burson then sold off her radio stations in 1990, eleven years later, to establish WGTW-TV.

Ellen K and Laura Schlessinger

Currently, there are many notable female radio hosts. Ellen K has been hosting The Ellen K Morning Radio Show on KOST since 2015. She begun her radio career in 1975.

Another notable radio personality is Dr. Laura Schlessinger whose radio programme gives personal advice to callers. She begun her radio career in 1995 on a show called KABC.

It is obvious that excellence is not limited by gender. However, although many more women today are being heard on radio and occupy leadership positions, they still have a long way to go. According to Sound Women, only 1 in 5 solo voices on the radio is female. This figure is 1 in 8 during peak-time breakfast and drive hours. Furthermore, in co-hosted show, you are nearly 10 times as likely to hear 2+ male presenters as you are to hear 2+ female presenters.

You can check out the International Women’s Day website here.

How are radio stations celebrating International Women’s Day?

This year, many radio stations across the world are doing their bit to celebrate International Women’s Day.

Community radio station, Wycombe Sound, are encouraging their listeners to participate in a project to find 100 Suffragist Pioneers from across the UK. They are encouraging their listeners to go to the website and nominate their local Suffrage Pioneer. Other stations can also take part by encouraging their listeners to nominate their local Suffrage Pioneer. You can find out more here.

Radio Verulam‘s women presenters are taking over the station all days today; all presenters, guests and vocalists on air will be female. Radio Verulam presenter Rosie Macleod said “I’ve loved overseeing the content for the day. Tune in and let us show you just how well women can perform in an industry in which we are so often over looked.” You can tune in via the website here.

Australian radio stations, ABC, Triple J,  Double J and Triple J Unearthed, are also putting women in the limelight all day long. They are having women presenters play music by female artists and discuss the achievements of Australian women in the industry. The radio stations are also encouraging their listeners to share their thoughts on the female artists that inspire them by using the hashtag #GirlstotheFront.

Indian radio station, Big FM, has introduced a segment titled ‘Ladies First’ which they will intersperse across all shows. The segment will applaud women who manage multiple roles at home and work and still manage to strike a balance in life.