Intelligence Briefs

We aren't just in a new "golden age" for TV shows. Nielsen has just declared that we are in a "golden age of audio." Really?! Check out the highlights from its just-released Audio Today 2018 report focusing on network radio. It has some incredible new data on smart speaker home penetration, and the percentage of all radio listeners who tune to a network affiliated station every week.

It’s 2019, and to mark the new year featured columnist Ken Benner has pledged to de-clutter his 60+ years of collected broadcast industry documents. He's in his second month of shredding, and just uncovered an item he challenges anyone "to find anything so pathetically and disgustingly over-complicated in the massive historical files of FCC regulations."

After a "rollercoaster" end to 2018, the Q4 media earnings season was essentially a "snoozer" in the eyes of top Wall Street financial analyst Michael Nathanson. As his team processes its post-4Q earnings takeaways, it sees very little changes to 2019 expectations.

What is truly needed for a broadcast television station to remain in compliance with FCC regulations regarding its Public File? Media Information Bureau columnist Ken Benner has quite a tale to tell of one of one station’s compliance efforts to keep its “Issues/Program Lists” up to snuff.

The Washington, D.C.-based Population Reference Bureau (PRB) has a preview what's expected to be seen in the upcoming 2020 U.S. Census. We're pleased to share with readers the details, which provide an up-close look at key trends that could reshape U.S. broadcast media.

"Effective communication skill means connecting with the other person in a way that invites them to offer you valuable information as well as willingly receive what you say," notes sales training expert Barrett Riddleberger. In this column, he asks readers to determine which of four personality traits they believe they exhibit.

The online video market as a whole is working "to put the nail in the coffin of broadcast TV," says a just-released State of Online Video report that purports to reveal that over-the-top video delivery vehicles are making headway. Is this report yet another biased look at digital TV?

Understanding "the contextual affinities and nuances" of every radio market in the U.S. is key to connecting with listeners "in a mindset that matters." Yet, it is not a radio group but SiriusXM-owned Pandora that is telling potential marketers and advertising clients key facts about listeners in markets of all sizes. It's just another slap in the face of an industry that still doesn't get it, our editor-in-chief opines.

In mid-April, with the COVID-19 pandemic at full tilt, RBR+TVBR's Editor-in-Chief penned a column focused on potential news burnout. "Thankfully, there is local radio, which, at one station in Detroit, has done an exemplary job of demonstrating just how valuable it is in a time of emotional need and national emergency." Today, we revisit Cumulus Media's WDVD-FM.

ATSC 3.0 datacasting brings the one-to-many delivery of broadcasting to the one-to-one world of wireless connectivity, just as the Internet of Things gathers steam. This means steady, low-maintenance dividend-like revenue streams for broadcasters, and capital expenditure relief for wireless carriers.

America is undergoing a process of social transformation. As a nation, this is impacting corporate America, the advertising and marketing industry and is encouraging dialogue of equity and inclusion regarding ethnic sectors. A recent initiative launched last week has prompted the Culture Marketing Council (CMC), the voice of Hispanic marketing, to comment.

With the last broadcast transaction of the year the broadcast deal volume for 2020 passed the $1 billion line, closing with a total of $1.02 billion. That's an 87% drop from 2019, Volker Mörbitz of S&P Global Market Intelligence notes, clearly highlighting the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is, however, a volume 27% higher than that of 2010.

Newly released research finds that the total market value of digital content will grow by 105% over the next five years. This value, says Juniper Research, takes into account pay-per-download revenue, in-app content spend, subscription revenue and ad spend over digital content.

If your radio or TV broadcast station is looking for ways to thrive well into the future, you need to be selling diverse advertising solutions, says Christian Kligora, the SVP of Client Success at Marketron. "With digital ad spending in the U.S. projected to hit $278.53 billion in 2024, the writing is on the wall: digital is a must," he says.

Attention, broadcast TV station owners and managers: Streaming growth has stalled, and the fight for streamers is now to retain subscribers. That's the big takeaway from research released late last week by Kantar, which says this fight for retention will be heightened between now and the end of the year. Can broadcasters perhaps benefit from this, in particular with their digital multicast and/or OTT offerings?