Here’s a four-minute read that could save your station from lost revenue and/or a decline in listeners in 2019. Why? Pandora‘s marketing pros are at it again — this time with a blog post listing the top reasons digital audio “is a must buy.”
Really? We have an RBR+TVBR Observation for our friends in Oakland.
In a communique distributed Wednesday by Pandora for Brands, the audio streaming pioneer that’s showing renewed vigor ahead of its expected merger with Sirius XM Satellite Radio shares some great stats radio sales managers should be sharing, too.
First, Pandora turns to Edison Research and Triton Digital, and the Infinite Dial 2018 report.
On average, they find, Americans now spend four hours a day with audio.
Of course, audio is not radio — and with the advancements in technology and new content available, “a majority of that time is spent with digital formats.”
This is Pandora’s entry point into delivering a marketing piece that’s all about the power of streaming.
Going back to the Infinite Dial 2018 study, Pandora says, “Imagine your day listening on your smart speaker at home, listening to your headphones at the gym, listening to a podcast on your commute or listening to music at work. This all adds up to a whole lot of listening time. In fact, 160 million people listened to digital audio in the last week alone.”
Pandora then turned to eMarketer data from October 2018 that appears as follows:
Now, here’s radio’s formal punch in the gut from Pandora:
Yes, AM/FM still has a substantial audience, but it’s based on a very narrow relevance.
Pandora then turns to an Edison Research Share of Ear study from Q3 2018 in noting, “Most AM/FM radio is consumed in the car, and 60% of listeners don’t even listen to the broadcast radio outside of their cars.”
Pandora continues, “Sharing your message with your audience wherever they are is a huge advantage that digital audio has not only over AM/FM, but also other more visually focused experiences. Whether they are listening at home from a smart speaker, driving, listening while at work, cooking, rocking out on mobile or in front of a screen at all.”
Pandora then goes on to discuss personalized experiences, and how Pandora “complements social and search efforts.”
Lastly, Pandora notes that “quality matters” when it comes to where an audio ad should appear.
“Unlike with AM/FM, all Pandora audio ads run immediately adjacent to music and podcast content, personalized for each listener, with no more than two ads per break,” Pandora says.
Pandora concludes by offering marketers to contact the company regarding opportunities for their respective brands.
RBR+TVBR OBSERVATION: C’mon, Ron … did you write this, or did some hip young kid who is a wordsmith at writing utter crap marketers are going to nevertheless eat up because the collective leaders of the radio industry have been out-marketed? First of all, there is no personalization when it comes to Pandora. It is why it is losing audience to Spotify, which allows Editor Adam to play whatever song he wants on his laptop at any time. “It’s better than going to an Aretha Franklin Pandora channel on the day she died and hearing 45 minutes of songs from artists other than Aretha Franklin,” Adam correctly notes.
Then, there is the Pandora vs. Total Digital Audio statistics shared. In 2020 1 hour of every 1:46 will not be spent with Pandora.
Hmm … is that because consumers are going to podcasts from iHeartMedia, or Cadence13? What about super Spotify and its true “play it now” offering? What about YouTube? Oh, and wait for it … how about the audio streams for actual radio stations?
Pandora sucks. It’s a flashy version of a satellite delivered radio format heard in such lovely locales as Crescent City, Calif., and still has advertisements.
So, what’s the value proposition to an advertiser? It’s all based on slick marketing goop like this — something the collective radio industry and the RAB continually fail to put out and distribute to ANA and 4 A’s members.
That’s the shame here. To start his day, Editor Adam listened to WINS-AM 1010 in New York … via the Radio.com app over his smartphone. Later, KCRW-FM 89.9 in Los Angeles was accessed via the office Alexa, as was KQ105, Play 96.5 and Zeta 93 from Puerto Rico.
What’s to stop Average Joe or Sancho Sabelotodo from doing the same?
Inaction by the radio industry as Pandora signs up a client for an advertising campaign that won’t yield any better results than a ROS on your local radio station.
