In an interview with Amplifi Media CEO Steve Goldstein, Gordon Borrell says podcasting and digital are the future. He says that’s where all the advertising money is going – and will continue to go. Radio, Borrell adds, needs to change with the times.
Borrell tells Goldstein that radio has a great history of transformation, particularly back in the 1950s, from one type of format to another, but not with delivery over new things like satellite and digital. “Radio viewed these entrants as an enemy or competitor. In 2031, there’s just not enough money to support 10,000 radio stations. There’s not. Let’s cut them in half; say half don’t make it. There’s still a small pot of money to support the remaining 5,000 stations. The good news — the largest single group population in 10 years will be people over the age of 60, and they will control 85% of the wealth of this country. And guess what, the aging population is listening to radio more than other folks. So, there is some sustainability there, but I’m really concerned about the level of support from advertising itself.”
Why is Borrell bullish on podcasting? “Podcasting is typical of all early onset programming. It’s flashy. It’s new. It’s interesting. So, marketers pay a premium to sponsor a podcast. It’s like the first banner ads in the early and mid-nineties when you couldn’t calculate CPMs.”
Borrell says he doesn’t even think local advertisers are being pitched podcasts yet. And he says he’s a little worried that the podcast content is mostly national, with some regional stuff. But, he says there’s not a lot of local.
Read the full interview HERE
On November 16th at Forecast in New York City, Gordon Borrell will moderate a panel of Radio and TV executives who will share their perspectives, projections, and visions for the broadcast industry. That panel includes Beasley Media Group CEO Caroline Beasley and Townsquare CEO Bill Wilson. Check out our full agenda HERE. Register HERE.
“He says that’s where all the advertising money is going.”
Absolutely not true. The ONLY podcasts that will attract ad money will be those that reach millions of people, and there aren’t a lot that do. Advertisers don’t care about the platform, they care about making impressions on potential customers. What we see is that users of podcasts want to avoid commercials. They want to skip pre-rolls or skip through embeds. The statistics are not good. The popular podcasters know that, and offer their podcasts for subscription, rather than ad-supported.
Smart advertisers don’t put “all the advertising money” in one category. It’s a terrible idea. You want to spread your message around using as many platforms as necessary to reach large numbers of people. Podcasting is narrow-casting. It may be good for those who want to target small specific groups, but it’s not the future for mass advertising.
Ever notice that very few podcast providers offer them to download anymore? Go to them and look… all they have are embedded player applets. And those applets can very easily be configured so that people *can’t* skip the commercials. dL
You do not need to own traditional AM/FM radio operations and the accompanying huge overhead costs, to be in the podcasting business or the streaming business. They are totally separate types of businesses. The only common denominator is content.
If a traditional radio company has compelling (local) content, certainly they can leverage that to podcasts and streaming. Without compelling content, there is no advantage to being a radio station owner in terms of competing in the podcasting or streaming business.
Who is this guy? Oh a podcaster. Got it.
My thoughts E X A C T L Y ! !
LOL! Same headline we’ve been reading since 1992. It’s truly a dying industry with a bunch of 40k employees who hate Sunday nights, yet have no confidence to stop following these washed-up PD’s.
Thank you, captain obvious.