CES 2021

CES 2021: The Only Constant is Change

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In a year relatively light on major announcements, CES 2021 reminds us that to reject change is to embrace failure.

The first all-virtual CES is in the books. Compared to recent years, the 2021 event was relatively light on major, industry-changing announcements. Take General Motors, which had the most prominent presence of any automaker, for example. While they unveiled many cool concepts (like its Halo self-driving car concept) and an increased electric vehicle portfolio, its biggest news seemed to be its new logo.

But about that new logo: No company, especially one of GM’s size, takes that type of rebranding lightly. This logo redesign is only the fifth in GM’s 113-year history. And they did it not to freshen their logo up, but to have it underscore its commitment to the future: developing, producing, and selling electric vehicles. 

GM says the new blue gradient is meant to reflect “the clean skies of a zero-emissions future,” and the negative space around the (lowercase!) “m” is even meant to resemble a plug. While the logo itself has been the subject of some creative criticism, the fact it exists is a way for GM to say, “We’re very serious about our commitment to embracing the change necessary to be successful in this changing world.”

So yes, CES 2021 felt more about evolutions of existing technologies and products than launching groundbreaking new ones (especially those that specifically impact broadcasters). But even its virtual execution was an example of how the big-picture evolutions in the ways we develop, distribute, and monetize content are very much here, and not going anywhere. The disruptions that began in March 2020 have tremendously hastened the digital-driven sea changes that have been coming to the broadcast industry for years. 

So many of those changes have to do with delivering the right content to the right people at the right time. 

Let’s talk broadcast sales. As noted in our recent piece “The 7 Trends You Need to Know About to Grow Your Revenue in 2021”, while radio and TV are incredible mass-reach mediums, broadcasters can no longer rely solely on impressions to get the buy. Broadcast brands need to develop and deliver stories about how they can reach a targeted audience well-matched to a brand’s goals to secure new revenue. 

From a content perspective, when people have endless options to get content specifically tailored to their preferences, it’s never been riskier to simply go with your gut on what your audience wants to see and hear. Pairing your seasoned eyes and ears with the right technology to identity exactly what topics and angles your audience will respond to is necessary to grow an engaged audience.

More and more broadcasters are acting on what they may have known in their gut for years: to reject change, especially when it’s inevitable, is to embrace failure. GM’s rebranding announcement was a statement to their world about how they’re embracing change. And embracing change is a big part of the reason that Futuri’s audience engagement and sales intelligence technology, designed to equip broadcasters with the tools necessary to evolve their relationship with their audiences and advertisers successfully, saw record growth in 2020. 

In the latest episode of the podcast Innovation19 with Daniel Anstandig, our CEO breaks down trends related to audience engagement, content, and revenue for broadcast media from CES 2021, capped off with a lightning round of the fun gears and gadgets that always come out of CES (ultra-premium bathtub with mood lighting, aroma, and fog? We’re in!). Take a listen, and as you do, think about how these things all roll up to the importance of change. And remember — at Futuri, we’re always here to have a discussion about how we can help you embrace and navigate change to grow your content, grow your audience, and grow your revenue. 

Listen to Innovation19 with Daniel Anstandig

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Trends in Broadcast Revenue Growth

The 7 Trends You Need to Know About to Grow Your Revenue in 2021

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Successful sales executives know that knowledge is power. We break down seven top trends emerging in broadcast sales, and how you can navigate them successfully. 

If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that lacking the willingness or ability to adapt is a recipe for failure. Nearly every business — and hey, almost every person! — underwent some type of massive change in the way they did things, from adjusting to your kids’ remote learning to securing revenue from clients you can’t pitch in person. Those that were most successful are the ones that genuinely thought differently about the way they do things.

The fact that success today requires a change of approach is especially true in broadcast sales. In addition to the massive shifts everyone has experienced in the way they work, brands have changed how they think about ad dollars’ budget allocation. While radio and television stations used to be able to rely on gross audience numbers to sell their reach, today brands understand that a targeted (smaller) audience of qualified buyers provides a more substantial return on their ad dollars compared to a larger audience of inefficient consumers. 

Having the tools and data to tell the unique story of your audience and their buying habits is key. With this type of information, you can maximize a brand’s advertising dollars and become an indispensable part of a brand’s team and win you a client for life.

How do we know? Well, that’s what we’ve been doing for years with TopLine, the sales intelligence system that pairs AI with expert human analysis to advance every stage of the sales process. We work with hundreds of broadcasters across America in markets large and small, and we helped deliver $130 million in advertising and sponsorship revenue for our partners in 2020. Already, we see 2021 off to a strong start.

In a recent episode of the podcast Innovation19 with Daniel Anstandig, Anstandig, our CEO, and Futuri SVP Tracy Gilliam discuss predictions and expectations they’re seeing emerge in broadcast sales.  They make recommendations to help you successfully capitalize on each trend in 2021. Read the high-level takeaways below, listen to the full (but short!) 19-minute episode to dig deeper, and consider how you can make the right changes to achieve revenue success in 2021 and beyond.

1. Advertisers are focusing on targeting, audience engagement, efficiency, and accountability for performance.

Relying solely on impressions to deliver a campaign doesn’t cut it anymore. Radio and TV are best-in-class mass-reach mediums. Still, with so many ways to reach a targeted audience, broadcasters must articulate the ways you can reach an audience that’s well-matched to a brand’s goals. That storytelling is vital for securing new revenue.

2. Agencies have to justify their ad purchases with results.

Increasingly, agencies are dealing with pressure to show justification for their media buying decisions. As the world gets more technical and analytical, buyers want to see how efficient broadcast advertising is in driving awareness or lead generation. Quickly delivering campaign summaries that show precisely how you produced results is crucial.

3. It’s harder than ever to get a prospective ad buyer’s attention. 

This has been a challenge since way before people started working remotely, which certainly hasn’t helped. And today, especially with agencies getting more and more protective with their clients, they don’t want media reps in their space. Arming your sellers with real insights into the buyer to cut through the massive clutter they’re hit with is how to move the mark. Simply pinging a buyer constantly without insights is a one-way ticket to the junk folder.

4. The pandemic is shifting and accelerating trends, and new trends mean new opportunities.

Shifts in the way we live and work are growing categories like home delivery services, bulk shopping, and financial services, and businesses that might not have traditionally bought media, like child care or senior services, need to get their message across to a growing audience. Staying educated about these shifts and getting out of your category comfort zone is imperative to growing your revenue. 

5. Multi-platform influencer campaigns with consistent messaging are essential.

Going back to the fact that gross impressions are no longer enough, endorsement campaigns need to go through every single channel advertisers are using — social, podcasts, video, you name it. Giving sellers the tools to tell the story of all your platforms and how they deliver value will get attention — and secure revenue.

6. Media brands are expecting more from their reps — and there are fewer reps.

It’s still true that good, resilient sales talent will stand the test of difficult economic times. That said, think of the changes in the ways consumers interact with advertisers, advertisers make purchase decisions, and broadcast brands sell to those advertisers. Standing out requires being a true partner to your clients who’s there to help them navigate change. Simply presenting yourself as a subject matter expert on their industry and providing them valuable information when you may not be pitching them means they’ll think of you first when they are spending.

7. Local is still a huge advantage, as long as your message is tailored to meet that community’s needs. 

Local buys are still where it’s at in terms of percentage of revenue for most media companies. Obviously, there’s more and more focus on national and regional opportunities these days. Still, local communities and networks are a colossal differentiation opportunity when it comes to targeting and understanding the unique local audience. Making sure you’re helping advertisers adapt their messaging and approach to meet consumers’ needs in your specific community is a significant advantage.

For more insights into 2021 trends and predictions for broadcast sales, listen to episode 6 of Innovation19 on your favorite podcast platform. And to learn about how TopLine can help you stay ahead of these trends and grow your revenue, reach out to us today.
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Holidays 2020: How CCM Radio Can Take Its Listener Relationships to the Next Level

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As we close a year that has been phenomenally stressful for most of us for many reasons, not the least of which is the contagious, deadly virus out there (come on, vaccine!), many of the year-end social and spiritual outlets we’ve relied on forever aren’t available to us — at least in the same form we’re used to. So, how can CCM radio help fill these gaps?

This is an excellent time to think through how you can deepen your relationship with your listeners around the holidays if you haven’t already, and in this guest post for Christian Music Broadcasters, Futuri’s Zena Burns shares her insight into how you can do just that.

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major research study at crs 2020

Futuri Media and the University of Florida Present Major Research Study at CRS 2020.

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The final day of CRS 2020 featured the presentation Defending Your Audience Share: Exclusive Research Findings, the results of a major study conducted by Futuri Media and the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. 

The study was conducted in January 2020 and surveyed nearly 1,400 people who named country as their favorite music format out of a list of seven options. It also broke out those who listen to AM/FM country radio (both terrestrial and streaming), and those who listen to country music but not via AM/FM country radio. 

Presented by Daniel Anstandig, Futuri Media’s CEO, and Rob Harder, Director of Programming / Brand Manager for the University of Florida radio properties, the study aimed to answer three questions facing country radio today: 

  • How do we defend our country audience and revenue share? 
  • How should we extend our country content onto new platforms? 
  • How will we transcend our challenges as the country competition landscape changes?

Key findings from the study can be found at futurimedia.com/CRS2020. Among the findings: 

  • 76% of AM/FM country listeners would prefer more video content from their favorite country radio station. 
  • Country radio listeners are tuning in to nearly the same amount of AM/FM radio as in the past, but 23% plan to listen to more country radio streaming in the next three months.
  • Women 18-34 who listen to broadcast radio tend to be more active on social media than streaming listeners. Throughout the study, data shows that country stations should have a social strategy that targets country fans, especially younger females, with sticky and recyclable content. 
  • Country listeners who have listened to a podcast in the last month name music as their favorite podcast topic genre. This number is 30%; the next highest topic genre is news/politics at 11%. Country radio station are great at talking about music; this presents an excellent time-shifted and original podcast content opportunity. 
  • Quality station-specific mobile apps present a major engagement opportunity. Younger listeners are more likely to install them, and they’re an opportunity for more connected car listening. Of AM/FM country radio listener respondents, 44% have their favorite station’s mobile app installed on their mobile device, a number that jumps to 48% when looking at the 18-34 demo. And 26% of country fans listen to country music via a connected car platform and are highly likely to listen to country music connecting their mobile device to their vehicle.

For more key findings, including many related to driving revenue, visit futurimedia.com/CRS2020.

how radio can cash in on booming digital ad spending

How Radio Can Cash in On Booming Digital Ad Spending

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With brands spending at record rates on mobile, digital audio, and digital video, radio stations can showcase their best products and add new offerings to grow revenue.

Here’s some good news for radio broadcasters: The digital ad market is surging and now is the time for local stations to cash in. Local radio companies have invested heavily in digital audio, mobile and digital video, positioning them to grab a larger share of digital ad dollars. Consumers are shifting their media time to mobile devices and that’s good for radio’s digital products.

Just how much money are we talking about?

  • U.S. marketers spent $28.4 billion on digital advertising in Q1 2019, up 18% from Q1 2018, according to a new report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers. 
  • The strong quarterly growth comes after a banner year in 2018, when digital ad sales jumped 22% to $104.7 billion, compared to 2017 levels. 
  • Mobile advertising spending doubled last year to $70 billion, compared to 2017 levels. 

As more consumers turn to their smartphones for entertainment, digital audio and video streaming are booming, and advertisers want to reach these audiences.  

  • Thanks to red-hot podcasting and digital streaming, brands are doubling-down on digital audio, spending $2.3 billion last year, up 23% from 2017’s $1.7 billion. 
  • Digital video is similarly growing at a breakneck pace, with ad spend up 37% in 2018 to $16.3 billion, compared to 2017.  

So what are the takeaways for broadcasters? Here are a few suggestions

Keep your mobile apps fresh

The best radio station mobile apps feature live streams, on-demand content, podcasts, and user-favorite features like contests. These are all key components to creating a positive mobile experience for your users. Make sure your mobile app is easy to use and continually revisit to explore new features and integrations. And don’t forget that with the growth of Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and SDL, mobile apps compatible with these technologies are your ticket into the connected car in a meaningful way.

Podcasts, podcasts, podcasts

Your listeners and your advertising partners can’t get enough of podcasts, so focus on developing more original on-demand audio and make your broadcast content available for on-demand, time-shifted listening. Offer advertisers opportunities in your on-demand audio including exclusive sponsorship and even branded podcasts. 

Develop mobile ad opportunities

For local advertisers, offer mobile ad opportunities that go beyond banner ads. You can create branded content, including video and podcasts, and you can also offer sponsorships for popular sections of the app, such as weather or traffic. Lastly, make sure that your live stream quality is as strong as your over-the-air broadcasts to ensure users have a positive listening experience. Pre-roll, midroll, and post-roll video ads give local businesses a chance to get into digital video. Also, be sure to present podcast ad opportunities, these are a major growth area for digital audio.

Dig into digital video

Both users and marketers are clamoring for more digital video. Radio stations can shoot video in studio or in the community. Local events, sports and concerts all offer opportunities for video. There’s even opportunities to create video to accompany original podcasts. Local businesses can buy pre-roll, mid-roll and post-roll video as standalone or in conjunction with audio spots. Radio can also produce branded video content for local advertisers, leveraging both their production and sales capabilities.

So how do you tackle all this to-do list? Futuri Media can help. 

  • Top-quality mobile apps: With Futuri Mobile, we can design mobile apps with custom features to showcase your best content and create an immersive mobile experience. Our apps are highly customizable; choose from one of three starting points and create a station app that has any of literally hundreds of customizations. 
  • Get into the video business — without derailing other parts of your business: To help time-strapped hosts and producers with content, we’ve added TopicPulse Instant Video. Subscribers can access dozens of videos daily, based on the day’s hottest topics that they easily can customize with their station branding and even their own PPM-encoded audio. Distribute these on your mobile, web, and social channels. And our POST podcasting system makes it incredibly simple to turn your audio into a video with a licensed image and a dynamic waveform designed to drive engagement. It’s a great way to take advantage of YouTube and other video sharing platforms for your audio content.

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By embracing mobile, digital audio, and digital video, your station can participate in the fast-growing digital and mobile ad boom, as well as bring more innovative and exclusive content to your audience. That’s a win-win for everyone. 

4 ways to maximize your talk breaks

Four Ways to Maximize Your Talk Breaks

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To create engaging breaks, radio should focus on timely tidbits, local happenings, and reveal themselves 

Faced with more competition than ever, radio stations need to make sure their listeners stick around for talk breaks rather than tuning out. The good news for AM/FM stations? Audiences want to hear what hosts have to say. In fact, listeners routinely say their favorite DJs and hosts are a top reason they use local radio. Talk breaks give these popular personalities a chance to speak directly to their audience, engage them on quirky or newsworthy topics, give a glimpse behind the curtain, or get personal. To make the most of breaks radio hosts and producers should plan and program these segments. Understanding that it takes 5 minutes of listening within a 15 minute period to get ratings credit helps us strategize length and content of these breaks as well.

When it comes to breaks, you want to sound as fresh as possible. If you’re a country station, your listeners want the latest music news and celebrity gossip. Sports listeners are hungry for info and insights on their hometown teams. Pop stations can dish on pop culture news and fun factoids to entertain younger fans, like it being National Avocado Day or National Leftover Day and local celebrations or promotions. Radio hosts can share details about their lives and interests. (Listeners really do want to hear about your dating life and your new puppy!) In these breaks you have the audience’s attention, so don’t waste the opportunity. 

Of course, radio hosts and producers are already multi-tasking media mavens juggling on-air, digital, and social responsibilities. Here are four suggestions for making your breaks as engaging as possible: 

  1. Hot topics in your community

    Radio stations are local experts, so there’s no one better to share news and information about happenings in your community. During talk breaks, music stations can share news about upcoming concerts and events while also plugging events your station is sponsoring and where talent is making appearances. You can also clue listeners in on up-and-coming acts that might be coming to town as well as intimate venues they should check out. Similarly, news and talk stations can keep listeners up to date on local news and current events including any newsmakers coming to town or gatherings. Sports stations can dish on local players and teams as well as upcoming opponents and the best tailgates in town.

  2. Give them the best industry news

    When it comes to dishing on the latest news and gossip, you need to be as plugged in as possible. Listeners expect their favorite DJs and hosts to be in the know.  Music format talent should be as up to date as possible on pop culture, celebrity news, and music information, and they should be ready to share that information like a newscaster. Likewise, sports stations can comment on developments in your team’s league or conference and information on teams and sports. Establish your over the air, digital, mobile, and social brand as the go-to resource for your audience’s latest news and information needs and your breaks will become indispensable.

  3. Craft conversation starters and destinations

    Listeners often view breaks as water cooler moments that give them fodder to use in casual conversations throughout the day. To facilitate those moments, radio hosts should be on-point with trends, quirky tidbits, and oddball news, and as they then relay that to your audience and tell them how it impacts your life. This can even be a way to tie in advertisers. For instance, if it is National Ice Cream Day, tell your listeners about your favorite flavors or failed attempts at making homemade ice cream. You can also direct them to a local ice cream shop for free cones. With effective breaks, you can help guide listeners’ conversations as well as drive them to local businesses.

  4. Keep an eye on what’s fading

    While it is important to stay on top of news and trends, you also need to know what’s fading out. These may be topics that you want to avoid, such as a song that’s past its prime or a celebrity who has faded from public view. If the audience thinks you’re out of touch with what’s cool and interesting you lose your platform as a must-listen during breaks. Take note of the topics in your industry that seem to have lost their luster, whether that’s an overplayed song, an overexposed talent, or a meme that’s had its five minutes run out.

At Futuri Media, we know AM/FM stations need help tracking news and trends. Our TopicPulse tool is like insurance for your talk breaks. We track what topics and conversations are trending or fading with your specific target audience so you can focus on your live broadcast, and make sure any voicetracked content is as fresh as possible once it airs. As a real-time story discovery tool, TopicPulse’s AI curates news and information from social channels like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well as more than 100,000 verified news sources. We track what’s popular, what is emerging, and what’s fading.

With TopicPulse, hosts and producers can quickly and easily find fodder for talk breaks, social posts, on demand content, and more! The web-based tool allows you to search by format, topic. and even keyword to find information and news stories that are relevant and interesting to your listeners. Based on our live-tracking, TopicPulse can see what topics are trending and what is burning out. During a live radio broadcast it is invaluable to know what your audience is searching for and reading about in real-time. Our system tracks what is about to go viral, and you can’t get much more up-to-the-minute than that.

TopicPulse also offers IdeaStarters™ that are updated in the TopicPulse app throughout the day and delivered via e-mail twice daily to prep for AM and PM drive. These packaged talk break content offerings feature talking points and even pre-written script suggestions that your hosts can plug and play.

to close a deal tell a story

To Close a Deal, Tell a Story

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By using data and insights to frame a narrative, radio can boost their sales efforts.  

“Let me tell you a story.” That’s how some of the best conversations get started. When it comes to advertising sales, it is important to take prospective clients on a journey. You don’t want to just rattle off facts and figures, but rather show them why your station is the best partner to help them reach their goals. When it comes to sales, storytelling is a way to connect your on-air and digital channels’ ad opportunities with your client’s objectives.

So how do you deliver this kind of compelling pitch? The very best presentations are grounded in data and insights, and they weave that information together with visuals and text to create a strong narrative.

Say, for example, your client wants to reach young families. An effective presentation will set the scene for an advertiser about the moms and dads that listen in the car or stream your station on their smart speakers while considering their weekend plans or household purchases. Once you’ve painted a scene, then you share your data on audience delivery and brand engagement and how the advertiser relates. Smartly-designed one-sheets and decks will weave together data points and visuals to communicate your story.

This kind of presentation can help show your value. In today’s analytics-driven world, marketers are under pressure to deliver return on investment and they need to know they’re spending their money wisely. As more local businesses direct money to video, social, and mobile, they want hard evidence that spending ad dollars on radio and radio digital platforms is a smart bet. A custom, targeted sales storytelling presentation can help answer those questions. Business owners remember stories, not stats.

Our experience has taught us there are three essential ingredients to an effective presentation: data, insights and storytelling. Here is how Futuri Media’s custom sales tool, TopLine, pulls it all together:

Data: More than ever, local marketers want to see how your station can deliver and generate sales. Radio is known for its broad reach and ability to raise purchase intent. To prove it, we mine multiple data sources to pull the most relevant information to support your sales pitch. That might include first-party or third-party data, including demographics and psychographics on your audience and their customers. With our newest feature, TopLine-MapIt™, we can illustrate how your stations’ reach with audience aligns with an advertisers’ target.

Insights: Armed with qualitative and quantitative data, our team of analysts will compile information on how your stations can deliver for a client. Our team creates materials to demonstrate how your station’s reach matches up with an advertiser’s customers.

Creative: Futuri’s team of copywriters and designers will create rich, compelling station-branded decks and one-sheets to bring to your meetings. These custom research and sales presentations can be ordered right from the mobile app or website. Our experienced staffers write the text, insert graphics, compile charts and statistics, and craft positioning material. We can provide up to three positioning pieces per month. 

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In today’s time-strapped, multitasking sales environment, radio sellers may be hard-pressed to develop sales narratives. That’s where having a partner in your corner can help. We’ve developed our TopLine tools to help on the backend. We supply vetted research and insights, and package that information into a visually-compelling presentations to share with clients.

Other companies can provide you with data, but then you’re on your own to interpret it for a client and design a presentation. That extra work can cost your station time and money. With TopLine, your sales team can deliver targeted and custom presentations that put a spotlight on your assets and how they’ll deliver for advertisers.  And when you show clients how you’ll help build their business, it could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

broadcast-dialogue

Futuri Media Discusses Digital Strategy for Broadcasters with Broadcast Dialogue

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Our very own Jim Tarantine and Zena Burns spoke with Broadcast Dialogues‘s Connie Thiessen about Futuri’s recent studies on podcasting and time-shifted radio content, and how broadcasters can take advantage of the growing digital audio space. They use their discussion on this podcast to discuss in-depth and answer the question, “What if radio was created after the internet?”

The podcast is available to listen to at broadcastdialogue.com.

6 reasons your station needs a better audio strategy

Six Reasons Your Station Needs A Better Audio Strategy Now

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Audio is the “it” media of the moment and radio stations are primed to be the go-to source for all audio – from on-air to on-demand to podcasts. AM/FM stations are experts in high-quality, local audio and feature charismatic hosts who connect with listeners and feel like trusted friends. These ingredients make for great radio, as well as time-shifted audio and podcasts, allowing more listeners to find content they like and to listen on their schedules.

Time-shifted audio and podcasts can attract new audiences, generate incremental revenue, and increase brand engagement.  How much upside is there? According to a new study by Futuri and Nielsen, about 80% of radio listeners said they would listen to time-shifted radio content. Podcast listening is booming as well. In a survey of podcast listeners, the University of Florida and Futuri found that, on average, podcast users listen to 4 podcasts per week for either 30 or 60 minutes.

Despite radio’s built-in advantages, many stations are missing out on on-demand audio’s potential. Still need convincing? Here are six reasons why your station should dive into time-shifting and podcasting:

You can leverage content you’re already creating   

Stations produce hours of programming, but once the live broadcast is over that content is history. By posting segments to your website or social media for future listening, you can extend the life of your audio.  Hosts can take bite-sized snippets of popular benchmarks or post segments that might be too long for radio such as an interview with musicians or local personalities. Either way, fans can listen on their own time and you’re expanding the reach of your content and brand.

Time-shifted audio can expand your social media reach

By posting radio segments across social media your station can attract more users and extend engagement. In fact, more than half of radio listeners say they’d listen to short, time-shifted radio segments on social media, per the Futuri and Nielsen study. Users who tune into time-shifted audio are also more likely to share that content on their own social accounts, the report noted. Radio content can also be posted to podcast platforms like Apple and Spotify, as well as YouTube. To boost engagement consider adding photos, video, and station branding. These are all things made super easy by our software POST.

Younger listeners gravitate to on-demand audio

Younger Americans consume audio when and where they want on their digital devices. Time-shifted audio and podcasts cater to these preferences and can help stations connect with elusive young adults and male listeners. In fact, the Futuri and Nielsen study showed men 18 to 34 years-old were most interested in time-shifted radio programming. The University of Florida and Futuri podcast study also noted that self-identified podcast listeners (meaning those who consider themselves to be podcast listeners, whether or not “true” series-style podcasts or other on-demand audio — consumers often don’t differentiate) tend to be younger audiences who overwhelmingly listen on mobile devices. Podcast listeners are also educated, with about half holding a college degree, the study noted.

Grow your owned digital platforms

With original podcasts and time-shifted audio, you can use your content to populate your websites and mobile apps, increasing the value of these channels. By driving more traffic to your owned platforms, your sales team can leverage increased audience to generate more ad revenue. About 80% of podcast users listen via mobile devices, according to the University of Florida and Futuri study, creating added incentive to post content to your website and mobile app.

Digital audio can grow your ratings

Digital content is obviously important for developing new and creative opportunities for your partners to advertise, but when time-shifted audio is PPM-encoded and distributed quickly, it can have a positive impact on your ratings. Stations receive PPM credit for any listening within 24 hours of the content’s initial broadcast. Also, according to the Futuri and Nielsen study, almost half of listeners who have accessed your time-shifted content will share it on their social media channels, easily broadening your station’s reach and impact. POST software is integrated directly with your station’s board and specifically designed to directly capture your PPM-encoded audio for easy use on all digital platforms.

Strengthen your position as local experts and trusted friends  

Radio listeners value AM/FM stations for their local expertise and their familiarity with hosts and DJs. Similarly, podcast listeners value hosts who are knowledgeable and trusted sources of information. Who better than radio personalities to extend those talents to podcasting? Hosts can take topics they are passionate about and create podcasts thereby creating a new community of listeners. Stations can also produce audio around off-air activities to give listeners more access to engage more deeply.

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Once you’re creating and posting time-shifted audio, make sure to promote it on-air. The Futuri and Nielsen study found that only three out of ten radio listeners were familiar with time-shifted audio, and only 16% have listened in the last month. This leaves a lot of room to raise awareness and educate audiences.     

At Futuri, we’ve developed tools to help radio stations create on-demand content quickly and easily. Our POST podcasting and on-demand management system allows hosts and producers to grab PPM-encoded audio segments and seamlessly post them to social media and online channels. Nielsen reported that stations that use POST attracted three times more time-shifted listening within 24 hours of the original broadcast than other stations, and those numbers were even higher among the key 18 to 49 years-old demographic.

With POST, you can add licensed images and graphics, as well as station branding and text to make your audio segments stand out. Basic, station-branded video and the ability to send content to YouTube is now included with POST, but for videos that really stand out with high-quality, fully-licensed clips and images customized directly to your audio our premium POST Video features are an absolute necessity. In the race to attract listeners, promote sharing and go viral, speed and appearance are what matter.

By embracing on-demand audio, stations can move beyond focusing on day parts and shows and focus on content distributed on multiple platforms. In the race to stay ahead of pure play audio companies and other local media outlets, these strategies are crucial.

Today's Podcast Listener: 2019 National Survey Report

Major New Podcast Study Reveals Listener Habits, Trust in Hosts

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National study also contains insights on implications for radio

Las Vegas, Nevada, April 9, 2019 – Most podcast users are millennial males, listen weekly, and engage with podcasts at home, according to a major new study by the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (UFCJC) and Futuri Media, a leading audience engagement and sales intelligence technology firm.

Results were presented at the National Association of Broadcasters’ NAB Show on April 9 as part of a panel discussion titled “Radio’s New Analytics: Understanding Listeners, Delivering Results.”

The study, which included a national survey and in-depth interviews, was conducted in February 2019 with 2,000 regular podcast users who listened to podcasts in the past six months, and 18 participants who gave in-depth interviews on their habits. The study did not define podcasting vs. other types of on-demand audio, and respondents self-identified as podcast listeners. The study results suggest that consumers now consider several types of on-demand audio to be podcasts.

While the study was not limited to those who use terrestrial radio, the sample was large enough that it delivered several insights on the radio format preferences of those who also listen to podcasts regularly.

The study found that nearly three-quarters of users have been listening to podcasts for less than three years and, on average, listen to 4 podcasts per week for either 30 or 60 minutes. Users listen to podcasts on multiple platforms, but YouTube is far and away the dominant platform (70%), followed by Spotify (34%), iTunes/Apple Podcasts app (33%), Pandora (30%), and Google Play music app (23%).

Not surprisingly, nearly 80% of survey respondents listen to podcasts on their mobile devices. What is somewhat surprising is that the users listen to podcast most frequently at home (3.9 on a 5-point frequency scale), followed by in vehicles (2.8/5).

Politics and Government podcasts are the most popular, with 15% listing it as their favorite genre. Music was next (11%) followed by interviews/conversations, comedy, sports and recreation and non-fiction storytelling, cited by 8 – 9% of respondents.

Listeners trust their podcast hosts highly, prefer host-read ads, and look for creative, informative, humorous, and integrated podcast experiences. They want to listen to hosts who are authentic, feel like a friend, and share the users’ passions and beliefs.

The study also found that among radio listeners who listen to podcasts regularly, 25-34 is the top age cell with both spoken word and music formats, with spoken word format attracting a more male audience (73% vs. 27% female), and music formats having a more even, but female-leaning split (51% female to 49% male). The top five favorite radio formats for regularly podcast listeners surveyed were Classic Rock (11%), Hip-Hop/Rap (10.9%), Country (10.4%), News/Talk (9.7%), and Alternative Rock (6.6%)

The study, which was supported by Futuri Media and their POST podcasting system, was designed and executed by UFCJC Telecommunication Professor and Director of Media Consumer Research Sylvia Chan-Olmsted with the help of doctoral student Ms. Rang Wang on the survey and undergraduate students in a capstone class who helped conduct the interviews. More insights from the study can be found at http://bit.ly/2019podcaststudy.

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Futuri is the leading provider of cloud-based audience engagement software for the enterprise. Brands rely on Futuri to make their content more relevant, accessible, engaging, and results-driven. Founded in 2009, Futuri holds 12 published or pending patents in 151 countries. Named to the Inc. 5000 List of America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies for seven consecutive years, Futuri is the only audience engagement platform that includes solutions for sales, marketing, and content teams.

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