Intelligence Briefs

Several radio industry professionals known across the U.S. have just wrapped up a two-day event full of discussions and insight on the future of radio, and of audio. With an in-person and virtual option, Radiodays Europe concluded its postponed event five months after its originally scheduled date on Monday in Lisbon, Portugal.

Today, digital media and technology have permeated businesses at every level. Yet, they continue to create fundamentally new challenges in the crisis and risk management field. Perhaps Edelman’s just released 2021 Connected Crisis Study can help. It sheds new light on how significant this shift has become, and how far companies still have to go, to adapt.

In late 2017, Norway's FM radio band was officially silenced, with an effort approved by the Norwegian government to shift all radio listeners to DAB-delivered digital radio stations formally completed. Switzerland's next, and the transition appears to be significant in one city bordering two nations where FM signals are plentiful.

It sounds hard to fathom just one day after a global outage crippled Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, immediately triggering cybercrime concerns that Cybercrime Magazine Editor-in-Chief Steve Morgan will be addressing at Forecast 2022 on November 16. Yet, it is indeed true. Some 27.6 million U.S. households lack a home internet connection.

In one week, the "most comprehensive and validated diverse-owned media list in the industry" will be released. And, it will be paired with a "Diverse Owned Media Planning and Investment Guide" full of profiles and aggregated metrics of diverse-owned media on TV, radio and digital platforms.

More than a year later, Zoom burnout persists as virtual meetings have become a daily fixture of remote and hybrid work environments. This column from Rosemary Ravinal offers a half-dozen ways to combat Zoom fatigue.

During the 2020 Christmas season, a well-known brand of TexMex-style food products integrated some of its offerings into a Lifetime yuletide yarn. The products also found their way into one of Food Network’s top cooking programs.  Did those product placements translate to a bump in sales?

Hybrid shopping, localized travel, a focus on health and wellness, the rise of challenger brands and an increase in e-commerce in areas of higher infection, are some of the buying behaviors in the U.S. that remain in a post-pandemic era. Here's what this may mean for your advertising trends in 2022, courtesy of Ascential-owned research firm WARC.

Smart speakers are the biggest boon to radio in the home since, well, the Reagan era. But, is there one key ingredient needed to lure consumers to a radio station's audio stream, instead of another Pandora-powered audio stream or Spotify playlist of choice? Yes, says Clark Smidt. Voices carry, especially good ones.

Stay-at-home ordinances and remote work mandates eliminated the daily commute. As a result, Spanish-language in-car radio listening and ad revenue "plummeted" during the early months of the global COVID-19 2020 shutdown.  Now, dollars are surging, says Entravision's Angie Balderas.

Video communication engages two senses of our five: sight and sound.  But how can we stimulate the other three with the existing digital technology?  Longtime public relations pro Rosemary Ravinal says it can be done through the memory of how things taste, feel and smell. "Video calls favor what we see over what we hear by a ratio of 90 to 10%," she says. 

What you wear during a virtual meeting can bring your confidence and executive presence to another level, veteran PR professional and "Zoom expert" Rosemary Ravinal notes in this column. "Large numbers of office workers continue to work remotely with video conferencing at the heart of the workday," she says. "So, the image you project can be critical to your success."

Why are you not you using a green screen when you Zoom? Public relations veteran Rosemary Ravinal recently conducted an informal poll on LinkedIn. What did she learn? More than 80% of respondents do not use a green screen with a virtual background. "That was disappointing, but not surprising," she says in this column.

Although global car sales were heavily impacted in 2019 and 2020, long-term market growth is expected, with car ownership growing strongly in emerging markets as developed market demand recovers. What does this mean for automotive audio trends? Software is evolving as e-vehicles, including autonomous cars, are on the rise.

With four months remaining of 2021, it is abundantly clear that the “normal” workplace pre-pandemic is a thing of the past. For PR veteran and "Zoom expert" Rosemary Ravinal, this means video conferencing will become a fixture of workplace culture to varying degrees. "Your professional future may depend on how well you navigate the virtual environment." It’s time to get serious, folks.