He’s not even a real person, yet iHeartMedia has been devoting a lot of time — and dollars — to promoting this popular figure’s recently launched podcast.
Radio stations are a big part of the audience-building outreach efforts, the latest Media Monitors Spot Ten Radio report shows.
The fifth-biggest campaign for the week ending August 11 at spot radio was for The Ron Burgundy Podcast. It’s an audio effort featuring the 15-year-old film character portrayed by actor Will Farrell.
With one sequel already lensed in 2013 and Anchorman 3 rumored across the interwebs for the last year, Ron Burgundy remains hot. And, since the podcast featuring the fictional news anchor from San Diego launched, “Ron” has appeared on Los Angeles Kings in-game telecasts calling shots and goals (Farrell is a huge Kings fan).
For iHeart, promotion of the Ron Burgundy Podcast has been a major endeavor, with billboards prominently displayed on I-95 in downtown Miami, and banner ads appearing across many trade publications and industry blogs, including iHeart-owned Inside Radio.
As iHeart also owns Media Monitors, many “inside” campaigns may not involve a wholesale exchange of funds, such as that seen with No. 2 advertiser Indeed or such major brands as GEICO or Sprint.
Nevertheless, nearly 31,000 spot plays are attributed to The Ron Burgundy Podcast.
And, given the growing popularity of the on-demand audio platform among advertisers and audience, it could be the first of many podcast-specific spot buys to come for iHeart and other players looking to use traditional radio to build their podcast listening roster.
