And this little factoid from the Magna June report will come as no surprise to our regular readers. Despite the fact that we’ve heard recent complaints about advertisers not getting results or that their ads aren’t even being heard or seen, digital ad spending continues to explode. In the United States, according to Magna, digital media ad sales will increase +14%, by more than $10 billion in 2017, to $83 billion.
Digital will then account for 45% of all the media spend in the U.S. Within digital, mobile will become the dominant format this year, with a 58% share, as it grows +34% to $48 billion. Mobile advertising will go on to account for nearly half of all advertising sales by 2021, with a 46% share, and up to $96 billion.
Magna says by 2019 digital media will account for half of all advertising sales in the country, and will surpass the $100 billion mark to end the year at nearly $103 billion.
What do Dave Mason and others mean by “time to fight back”??…Are we physically going to force advertisers to spend more on radio? Many in radio continue the age-old habit of looking over their shoulder, and trying to find faults with the competition and then going in and advertisers and pretending that we are experts on all media. Advertisers see thru that charade and often see us as disingenuous, because they know we are really there to sell radio (and some streaming products). Anyway, radio’s problem is radio. Stop running 8 or 10 or more commercials on a row…listeners leave during those long breaks, so ads don’t get heard. Stop voice-tracking. Stop paying weekend “personalities” $10 or $20 an hour. Try actually investing in, and paying, compelling personalities that stand out. Try actually spending real money (not billboard trades) for promotion of your station.
..If owners and programmers don’t take their radio product seriously, why do you expect advertisers to???????
“Despite the fact that we’ve heard recent complaints about advertisers not getting results or that their ads aren’t even being heard or seen, digital ad spending continues to explode.” Doesn’t this tell you something? Someone somewhere has done a great job of selling the phrase “you gotta be online”. Not saying it’s not viable, nor am I saying it’s not good advice. But let’s be real. If it’s not delivering, it’s not much different than putting water in the gas tank of your car-and whining ’cause it doesn’t run. The whole idea of advertising is to alert the consumer to a product or service they can use. Audio and Video (radio and TV) advertising is pretty intrusive-and yes compared to digital pretty expensive. Is it cost effective? Does the consumer remember what they’ve seen/heard on digital? Do they care? I can honestly say that some of the video ads we see on digital platforms are pretty good – but just like on Youtube, I can skip them in 4 seconds. Broadcasting is hurting itself by not improving the advertising product-and marketing that fact. We’re fighting more than the other stations, we’re fighting what looks like an economically feasible approach-which continues to provide evidence that it’s not really working. Time to fight back-isn’t it?