Media Info Bureau

Believe it or not, Pandora remains the most popular music streaming service in the U.S. But, that will change in the coming years, a new forecast focused on digital audio listeners from eMarketer finds.

One of the most striking takeaways from a letter signed by 10 leaders of radio broadcasting companies that fully backs a NAB proposal to loosen the FCC's ownership restrictions is a claim that, with fewer owners in a market, greater programming options exist. Is this a bogus claim, or is this a factual statement that simply can't be argued, because it's wholly true? It depends on what market you're in, and how one defines "format diversity."

Determining audience “identity” has become a major priority over the past year for U.S. marketers, many of whom plan to increase their investment in finding and developing identity solutions. What might this mean for your radio or TV station group? A newly released study from the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) based on research conducted by Winterberry Group could provide some fresh answers.

Media Information Bureau columnist Kelly Orchard is back with a column focused on broadcast media's continuing battle for relevance. In a world full of instant at-your-fingertips media choices, does anybody have "the" solution to keep broadcast media relevant?

If customers like data portability and companies want to provide it, then it’s a win-win. But legislating portability in the name of enhancing competition is problematic and far more complicated than policymakers may realize, AEI visiting scholar and FCC influencer Mark Jamison writes in this column.

Social is positioning itself as "a definitive source for video" and as the primary portal to the web for younger audiences. That's just some of the eye-opening findings from the just-released State of Social Video study from creative tech firm VidMob. This illuminating research study could be a game-changer for your content developers as well as your sales execs.

To stay abreast of the latest in ad sales training, Ryan Dhorn often listens in on fellow sales coaches to learn and observe.  "What seems so odd to me is the lack of common sense in what is being taught today," he laments. Here, Dhorn shares why the need to "perfect your pitch" is so off base that he's amazed that people still try and teach this age-old way of selling. 

The National Marketer Advertising Marketplace gained 8% from January through June 2018. This was aided by additional revenue from the Winter Olympics and the World Cup, new data from Standard Media Index find. Looking across platforms, digital was the strongest performer. How did radio do?

For the first five years he conducted Alternative FCC Compliance Certification inspections, 90% of the questions Ken Benner was asked pertained to FCC-required public files. As he notes in this exclusive Media Information Bureau column, some 90% of the radio station personnel he worked with "had virtually no idea of what was required or where to turn to become compliant."

"Have you ever wondered how radio, television and other media outlets decide what shows to broadcast or to cancel?" That's the opening pitch in a letter randomly received last week at a Florida household from Nielsen. Here's the scoop on how the nation's dominant audience measurement company seeks PPM panelists.

The world has never been more connected, and U.S. audiences have never had as many options to access content as they do these days. In short, consumers in the U.S. seem like they can’t get enough content, and the possibilities for marketers to reach them, while fragmented, is an opportunity that is just too good to pass on. That's the key takeaway from the Q1 2018 Nielsen Total Audience Report.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup is now but a memory. By the way, France was the victor. When all was said and done, MediaRadar took a deep dive into the TV ad trends during the entire month-long tournament. The takeaway: Advertisers were highly active with Telemundo, a big winner in the global soccer tournament.

The FCC today selected a new Chief Economist, and in doing so chose a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute — the think-tank that directed the FCC's transition following the 2016 presidential election. Another prominent figure at the AEI is Roslyn Layton, who writes in this column about the importance of the Commission's mid-band spectrum strategy.

Featured Media Information Bureau columnist Ken Benner has been "very fortunate" to have met "many awesome people" in the broadcast industry during his 50 years of inspection services for AM and FM stations. Today, Benner pays tribute to seven individuals who he calls "America's Finest Broadcast People."

Patrick Communications Managing Partner Larry Patrick is in the news today for his brokerage firm's representation of the buyer of a trio of radio stations from Alpha Media. As that deal was being finalized, Patrick took a moment while at his part-time Wyoming home prior to a trip to Washington, D.C., to collect his thoughts on a radio industry combatant many not often thing of. Could you be a guilty party?