The Power of Terrestrial Radio In a Holistic Marketing Campaigns (and News on Audio and AI)

[sloooowly drags soapbox into middle of digital newsletter townsquare]

Hi all!

I’ve been deep on Pew Research over the past two weeks and wanted to bring forward something we’ve touched on in previous newsletters but still may not be getting significant exposure (both within Paramount and across the industry). 

Terrestrial Radio.

Specifically, the size, scale, and power of that medium.

And, especially, how that scale can be applied when leveraged alongside other audio mediums such as podcasting and streaming audio and then amplified yet again via media such as linear, streaming, digital and social.  All of which happen to exist within the Paramount Ecosystem.

So let’s just quickly review some topline stats on All Things Radio.

It is big.  83% of all Americans ages 12 and older listen to radio on a weekly basis per Nielsen . 

And how big is 83% of all Americans?  So big that Nielsen provided a solid infographic (who doesn't love an infographic) that we included:

Outside of the fact that I’m not entirely sure on the visual tie between the muddy hiking boot and the statistics (although I do see the yellow radio in background left) let’s review the stats:

• 234M people listening weekly
• 11 Hours listening each week 
• And 91% P18+ reached in the past month

These are powerful numbers, especially for brands that are looking to reach a broad geographic swath of the country.  

Radio scales.  And to some extent, I think we’re sleeping on it.

Now to be clear, we are not advocating the radio should be the sole approach for advertising but we are saying that for brands and agencies looking for mass reach across the country, this is an extremely strong medium.  And for publishers that happen to have access to radio networks (or are in the process of exploring how to grow their existing networks) this suggests that, beyond the revenue, there are very real marketing implications here as incremental parts of a larger campaign.

In the coming months, we at Paramount Audio will be continuing to explore the opportunities for both podcasting, radio, and streaming audio to be viewed as complementary, holistic parts of a larger media ecosystem.  And, without sounding overly pollyannaish, noting that there are ways where each of these mediums can play a very specific role in broader marketing mixes in order to create an impactful holistic spend.

[steps down from soapbox, makes mental note that I need to visit Hyde Park in London ]

And with that, on to the news…

New Study From DISQO with Data From 17,000 Podcast Listeners

• While lots of great insights in the study, we will highlight interesting listener data around age 
• The study found fairly distinct age profiles across the major platforms and distributors (Apple, Spotify, etc)
• Spotify strongly draws younger adults with 59% of those age 18-24 claiming it is their most preferred podcast platform
• Apple skews slightly older with 33% of those 25-34 and 33% of those 35-44 claiming it is their most preferred podcast platform
• More frequent listeners lean toward some of the biggest options, with weekly+ listeners more likely to select Spotify and Apple above other platforms 
• Additionally, although consumers were allowed to select up to 3 options of “preferred platforms” from the provided list, the average consumer only selected ~1.5 options, suggesting that staying within a singular platform is the default and that listening is habitual 

Acast Study Finds Podcast Listeners are Overwhelmingly Tuned in to AI and Say it’s Positioned to Change the Medium

• AI is very popular with weekly podcast listeners and 82% support the use of AI-powered tech to improve sound quality
• 80% embrace translation technology to defy language barriers, allowing listeners across the world to enjoy podcasts regardless of spoken language
• 65% approve of advertisers leveraging AI to serve relevant ad content, and when it comes to voice simulations, 56% of listeners said they support podcasters leveraging AI to simulate them reading an ad instead of doing the host-read themselves
• Nearly 75% approve of AI to suggest similar episode recommendations to aid discovery
• In terms of content creation, 77% support AI-generated reports on listener drop off rates to better inform podcasters about what is and what is not working in their podcast. An additional 72% of respondents also support AI-generated reports that give podcasters insights into what similar podcasts are discussing and another 65% said they support podcasters using AI to research and prepare for a podcast episode

Podcasting Celebrates 20 Years

• On Sunday, Podcasting turned 20 years old
• On July 9, 2003 Christopher Lydon and Dave Winer recorded the first podcast, using a recorder and laptop. It was the first piece of audio that would be distributed using an enclosure referenced in an RSS feed. That podcast, now called Open Source, is the longest-running podcast in the world
• Podcasting has thus skyrocketed and there are now 4 million podcasts on open RSS
• Over 40% of Americans now listen to a podcast monthly. A decade ago, that number was 12%
• US podcast ad revenue is now worth $1.8bn