RadioActive Media, Inc.

Advertisers are changing their tune when it comes to mobile advertising according to a new survey. Advertiser Perceptions finds that it is podcasting that has become the hot medium as nearly half (49%) of buyers surveyed saying mobile audio is now extremely important to them, an increase of 12 points from the end of 2019. A majority 57% of mobile buyers said they plan to increase their ad spending on podcasts in the next six months. No other medium scored as well with podca...sting beating social media by ten points and topping ecommerce and video spending by nearly as much. Advertiser Perceptions finds 42% think their current podcast ad budget will remain in place while just one percent of buyers expect to see podcast spending cut in the coming months. That gives podcasting the highest optimism score the difference between those foreseeing gains and cuts of any format.

Entercom, the parent of podcast studios Cadence13 and Pineapple Street Studios and the podcast ad marketplace Podcorn, has rebranded itself as Audacy. As part of the change, it will sunset the Radio.com brand for its podcast and streaming radio app but keep the podcast company names. They will however tag themselves as "an Audacy company." The newly rebranded Audacy app will include podcasts and streaming radio. A number of original podcasts will launch exclusively in a bing...eable window on Audacy’s app, the company said in an announcement. That includes the now-available series My Fugitive by documentarian Nina Gilden Seavey. The true crime series is about Howard Mechanic, who became one of the longest running fugitives in U.S. history. Another exclusive will be Stay Away from Matthew Magill from Pineapple Street producer Eric Mennel set to debut April 13. It tells the story of Matthew Magill, who died alone in the woods on the Florida-Georgia border. In reporting the series Mennel comes across a box he left behind, and he is left facing questions about his own life, mistakes, and family secrets. As part of the name change, Audacy has also said it is planning to debut new original podcasts that will be available exclusively on the Audacy app, including new shows from New York sports radio host Boomer Esiason, syndicated hip-hop radio host Big Tigger, and NBC Sports podcaster Rich Eisen. Overall, the company aims to double the number of original series it releases this year. Audacy also announced that singer-actress-activist Demi Lovato will host her first-ever podcast via its podcast studio Cadence13. The still untitled series will be produced by OBB Sound, the audio division of OBB Media, and SB Projects. More details on the Lovato project are expected to be made public in May. The move to kill off the Entercom name which dates to 1968 caps what the company says has been its three-year effort to reposition the company into a multiplatform audio content and entertainment organization, including podcasting.

How The Pandemic Impacted Media Usage Trends In 2020. Despite a global pandemic, radio held on to its position as the No. 1 reach medium in the U.S., last year, according to the latest Total Audience Report from Nielsen. What’s more, radio increased its share of time spent with media, even as overall time spent with media declined.

Radio Reaches More Consumers With Spending Power, Study Shows. An analysis of January 2021 Nielsen PPM data projected to the U.S. population shows 94% of 25-54 Adults and 96% of 35-64 Adults, both with household incomes of $75,000 or greater, have returned to listening to local AM/FM radio every week, when compared to January 2020 pre-pandemic listening levels.

New CEO Jennifer Witz On Putting All The SiriusXM Puzzle Pieces Together. In her first appearance at Morgan Stanley’s Technology, Media and Telecom conference since taking over as CEO of SiriusXM in January, Jennifer Witz outlined some of the audio company’s top priorities. Among them: growing audience engagement outside the car, where the satcaster has traditionally had its largest audience; increasing digital-only subscribers; and growing audience and revenue in the explodi...ng podcasting space. Witz, who has worked for 18 years at the company, said it now has over 40 million subscribers across SiriusXM and Pandora and reaches 150 million listeners. But its core service remains good old-fashioned linear, subscription based satellite radio, which is now 20 years old. While that remains a one-to-many platform, the introduction of new, two-way interactive 360L receivers are helping to drive personalized experiences and marketing efforts. That’s because the new radios access the car’s modem, which opens up a return path of user level data which really helps us provide a more personalized experience, Witz told the annual investor conference.

"Study: Long Disclaimers In Pharma Ads Aren’t Turning Off Listeners After All." More and more branded ads for medications are being heard on AM/FM, complete with the lengthy disclaimers that had long been seen as a listener deterrent. Those federally-mandated disclaimers that can take up a large chunk of an ad have traditionally been a major obstacle for radio because the thinking has long been that they are a listener turn-off. But new research shows the long disclaimers are...n’t off-putting to people looking for relief from symptoms described in the spot. Toronto-based Signal Hill Insights surveyed a group of consumers who were exposed to a 60-second pharma spot on AM/FM radio with a disclaimer. The outcome showed there were no issues with the disclaimer. Less than 8% said they disliked the AM/FM radio ad either somewhat or a lot, according to an analysis of the study by Pierre Bouvard, Chief Insights Officer at Cumulus Media. Those suffering from the disease symptoms rated the AM/FM radio ad strongly for likeability with very low negative scores.

Re-Inventing Talk Radio? Mark Cuban’s ‘Fireside’ Plan. Mark Cuban is getting in on the audio and podcasting hype. Alongside co-founder Falon Fatemi, he’s planning to launch Fireside, a next-gen podcast platform that facilitates live conversation, according to an email sent to possible creator partners seen by The Verge. The app idea is similar to the buzzy live audio startup Clubhouse, except with the ability to natively record conversations. A source close to Fireside says the app plans to launch publicly this year.

President Joe Biden Revives Weekly Radio Address On Video. President Joe Biden revived the tradition that dates back to Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose fireside chats ushered in a new way for the leader of the country to address its citizens on a regular basis. However, you’d be hard-pressed to call it a radio address since it looks as if Biden will be following in the footsteps of former President Barack Obama and releasing video on the official social media account @POTUS.... There is a time-honored tradition in the country of hearing from the President in this way from FDR’s fireside chats to Ronald Reagan establishing the weekly presidential radio address, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Friday in a press briefing. President Biden will continue that tradition, and we expect it to take on a variety of forms. The first two-and-a-half-minute video was released Saturday, Feb. 6 and featured Biden in a phone conversation with a woman from California who lost her job due to the pandemic and struggled with securing unemployment benefits.

RIP LARRY KING The man who literally wrote the book on how to talk to anyone, anytime, anywhere has died. A great role model of how podcast and radio hosts should be civil. Larry King, the legendary TV host and radio personality recognized by his trademark suspenders and black-rimmed glasses, died Saturday morning at the age of 87 after a weekslong battle with COVID-19. He was hospitalized with the disease in late December. He had several health scares in recent years, incl...uding multiple heart attacks, a lung cancer diagnosis and a stroke. King died at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Broadcast radio is a top mass reach medium among Millennials in addition to streaming radio on smartphones: Weekly Reach (% of P18-34) Adults 18-34 (Millennials)

https://www.politico.com//27/hillary-clinton-podcast-118024