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Dan Granger at AdWeek says that’s already happening. And, he says you can expect it to keep happening. One statement in his piece may frazzle you even more. Granger says the majority of the top podcast networks are already owned by radio.
Granger says, on the heels of the iHeart purchase of HowStuffWorks, more radio companies will continue to take over podcast content companies and that will result in “radio starting to look and sound a little bit more like podcasting, and over time, podcasts are going to look and sound a lot more like radio.” And as a result, Grainger writes, podcasting “shouldn’t necessarily be the highlight of a marketing strategy.”
Writing for AdWeek, his advice is aimed at the ad-buying community. So, he offers up some advice to his audience on how to deal with radio. “Learn the impact of frequency, placement in a spot break, and the value difference between produced spots and host live-reads.”
And he also hits on several of radio’s well-known weak points: playing too many commercials and radio’s willingness to throw in free spots. He calls it opportunity amidst the chaos. “One of radio’s great advantages is 24/7 programming with many long breaks, something your favorite podcast cannot offer with 90 minutes per week. Leverage it. Buy podcasts and radio from the same people when possible. You can use radio’s vast surplus of inventory as insurance or value-add to offset the high CPMs or potential performance challenges of podcast.”
Other points Granger makes to his audience worth highlighting: “The new American Dream includes a house, a car, and a podcast.” “Focus on developing your audio strategy as the two worlds become one.” “I know it’s sad for podcast enthusiasts to think about things going corporate. So take heart. The smart speaker is the new iPod.”
Read Granger’s entire article in AdWeek HERE.
Comments:
Interesting paradox. Podcasting is growing, in part, because it’s a refuge for listeners turning away from commercial loads and lowest-common-denominator programming on radio. Now, advertisers are being urged to point to the low CPM on radio as a tactic to negotiate podcast rates downward. I can’t help but think that podcasts owned by radio groups will start sounding like radio a lot sooner than radio starts sounding like podcasts, because radio groups are still managing big debts, and can’t pay them off broadcasting to niche audiences with limited commercials. I like the prospects for indy podcasters in this new environment.