Entries from May 2005
There are 200 million radio listeners in the US, listening to a choice of over 13,000 stations across the nation. Each radio listener generates a yearly average of $100 of revenue to radio owners, which are mostly corporate owners today.
Just think about it.
If you are a subscriber to Time magazine, you spend about $40 a year for the weekly publication…money Time Inc gets in addition to the advertising they sell.
If you are a subscriber to USA Today, a 5-day-a-week, 52-week subscription delivered is $127.40. That what you spend and USA Today receives. Of course, they also collect advertising revenue, too.
But radio, it is free. AM/FM receivers are in your home stereos, your clock radios, your car stereos, your portable stereos. You hear it in stores. You can even get add-ons to hear radio on your iPods.
Your radio listening is economic power…here is an article to help you raise your voice as a consumer through the power of radio.
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As written on Money.CNN.com, “Time Warner CEO Dick Parsons said he’d consider spinning off AOL as a separate stock if the division’s latest strategy doesn’t pan out, according to the latest issue of Fortune magazine.” After the post-TeleCom 1996 Bill/”corporate synergy” bull run — where AOL bought/merged with Time Warner — and several years after the new millenium dot com meltdown — which saw AOL’s shares take down Time Warner’s market value, AOL is dangling the recently-popular media kingdom idea of spinning divisions off which no longer seem to fit the “synergy” model (Viacom, Clear Channel, etc.).
If this is chosen course for AOL, Dick Parsons will have truly reimagined AOL Time Warner post-Gerry Levin/Steve Jobs marriage. And restaked value in “old media” being the stronger media…at least for 2005.
Click the headline to read the full article.
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(story and graphic courtesy of NPD Group)
According to the latest MusicLab report from The NPD Group, even though radio, audio devices and music videos on television dominate overall music listening behavior, the computer is an increasingly significant medium for music listening. Computer listening behaviors are all on the rise compared to last year, with listening to music on a portable music player, streaming music online and listening to music on a computer showing the most notable increases.
Radio remains the most popular way to listen to music; however, radio listening actually declined four percent since last year (194 million people aged 13 and over listened to music on the radio in March 2005, versus 203 million who listened in March 2004). By contrast, listening to music stored on a computer rose by 22 percent (63.2 million to 77.2 million), online radio listening increased 18 percent (45.3 million to 53.5 million) and free streaming of online music increased 37 percent (33.7 million to 46.1 million).
“The rise of digital listening and storage for music continues unabated this year,” said Russ Crupnick, president of the NPD Group’s Music & Movies division. “Technology companies are providing new tools to consumers in the form of powerful music-enabled PCs and portable music players, music companies are answering the call for more content and consumers are responding positively.”
NPD noted a marked increase in consumers ripping music onto their computers: this activity more than doubled (102 percent) since March 2004. The transfer of music to MP3 players also more than doubled (127 percent) since last year, while paying to download music files increased 93 percent. Consumer visits to music Web sites increased seven percent this year over last.
“Music listeners today are faced with a dizzying array of methods for obtaining and listening to music,” said Russ Crupnick, president of the NPD Group’s Music & Movies division. “Far from inciting confusion, these new technology-driven avenues may be helping consumers sample and enjoy music across a wider variety of music genres. ”
Sources: NPD’s MusicLab Surveys are conducted bi-monthly among a group of approximately 5,000 consumers aged 13 years and older; results are calibrated and balanced to represent the U.S. population. The most recent survey was fielded in March 2005. NPD MusicWatch Digital information is collected continuously from the PCs of 40,000 online panelists balanced to represent the online population of PC users.
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As reported in the New York Times April 27, magazines are finding some new innovative ways to advertise and build “new media” advertising relationships. Often, they are creating “experiencial” advertising…and companies likes GM, Yahoo, Elizabeth Arden, Lincoln Mercury and Motorola are responding positively.
Go to the NYT archives by clicking the headline link and sign on.
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I love AdAge.com. Greating reading material for those who think advertising — the ads and the pop culture/market forces behind them — actually matter.
In this new article, marketer Al Ries explains why the VNU/Arbitron collaborative “people meter” project is way off base. In it, he explains “public relations builds brands better than ad promotions”. But do they actually build ratings? Mr. Ries wrote the article in response to an April New York Times Magazine article which explained that the way companies monitor viewership and listenership consumption was about to radically change, as the VNU/Arbitron “Apollo” project was being tested.
The is-it-on, is-it-off testing project continues in Houston…read on.
(requires your free member ID log on to AdAge.com; if you don’t have one by now, get it!)
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With Bill Gates predicting the demise of iPods due to upcoming cellphone innovations, which surely will get Steve Jobs’ attention, you might recall that last winter Gates was issuing decrees making sure no Microsoft employee was seen with iPods on campus, only Microsoft-related mp3 players. Which they have had a very difficult time policing; after all, the Redmond, Washington campus isn’t a tyranny, is it? Hmmm….
Going back into the archives of Wired, this article comes from February 2, 2005 and still is noteworthy.
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It’s been a long while since Bill Gates has taken any sideswipes at Apple (when you make binding agreements on cross-platforming of products, it tends to take the air out of that balloon). It seems whenever Gates realises Apple has a product Microsoft can’t defeat, that is when is gets back to swinging. Of course, the latest example of Apple product superiority that Microsoft can’t seem to dent is the whole iPod crazy and the cottage industry built up around it. Even though Microsoft finally was agreed (or was allowed) to have a Windows-version of iTunes — the proprietary program running for the iPod — and Gates directly saw the new massive growth for the iPod, he now thinks the iPod lifespan will be relatively short.
As reported by Reuters, with Gates talking to a German magazine, He believes the cellphone will soon replace the need for iPods. Not exactly ground-breaking, earth-shattering revelations. But, considering he generally has stayed away from the Microsoft/Apple Wars for quite some time, the very fact he has issued a statement of eventual Apple irrelevance for a very hot global product will quickly get Steve Jobs’ attention, I’m sure.
So much so, mark this article as the birthplace for Apple’s next revolutionary product. Everytime Gates says something of pending doom for Apple, it seems to be just the right catalyst for new Apple innovation.
Is it time for Steve Jobs to product the iPhone?
Click the headline for the Wired article.
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Yahoo! has made quite a bit of news in the last year expanding its music role on the internet. Primarily known just for its Launch and radio station offerings, it has just “launched” its newest service…and its targeted square at iTunes. It is called “Yahoo Music Unlimited” and it combines a wide range of products, including “Launch”, the radio stations, the recently-acquired “MusicMatch”, Yahoo!’s IM service and more.
So, Google is building out its video search while Yahoo! is building out is music search. What does it mean for AOL and MSN?
Wired News has all the details…
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With SMS/text messaging, video/picture e-mails, custom 60 second mini-episodes of hot TV shows (24, Smallville) as well as video recaps and instant updates of sports scores, stock prices, and news headlines all going straight to millions of cell phone users across the US every day, the advertising industry is now poised to link into the trend.
The ClickZ article shows major potential for both increased consumption of “free” content and “advertised” content. Who is leading the way? Google, of course. Part of their effort to build up video search options with paid links from advertisers. Then again, isn’t it all advertising? A great read…
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(click the headline for the full Forrester press release; the following is from the Center of Media Research, as published by MediaPost.com)
According to a new five-year forecast from Forrester Research, online marketing and advertising will represent 8 percent of total advertising spending in 2010, rivaling ad spending on cable/satellite TV and radio. In addition, almost half of marketers plan to decrease spending in traditional advertising channels like magazines, direct mail, and newspapers to fund an increase in online ad spending in 2005.
Forrester Research Principal Analyst, Charlene Li, says “When at-work Internet use is taken into consideration, online consumers spend more than one-third of their time online, roughly the same amount of time they spend watching TV. Yet marketers spend only 4 percent of ad budgets online versus 25 percent on TV.”
Key data points from the report, including data from an online survey of 99 leading marketers and four forecasts, show that:
* Total US online advertising and marketing spending will reach $14.7 billion in 2005, a 23 percent increase over 2004.
* Search engine marketing will grow by 33 percent in 2005, reaching $11.6 billion by 2010.
* Display advertising, including traditional banners and sponsorships, will grow at the average rate of 11% a year to $8 billion by 2010.
* 64% of respondents are interested in advertising on blogs, 57% through RSS, and 52% on mobile devices, including phones and PDAs.
* 78% of survey respondents said that they think search engine marketing will be more effective over the next three years.
* 53% of respondents said TV advertising would become less effective over the next three years.
* Only 8% of respondents believe that product placement will become less effective over the next three years.
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