Radio vs. Digital—Telling the
Story Better. In part II of our four-part roundtable look at how radio can
better monetize its huge reach number and sell itself to advertisers, we asked
our six industry experts about how radio can tell its story better compared to
the media world’s Next Big Thing—digital. Our panel, while acknowledging the
perception of digital’s place, felt it was up to the industry to better talk up
its own advantages. “People
love cool new things and there is nothing cooler and sexier than NextRadio,”
says Pierre Bouvard, CMO, Cumulus Media/ Westwood One of the technology that wakes up FM receivers on your
smartphone and enables new interactivity with content and advertising. “Every
time I tell an advertiser, an agency or Wall Street analysts about
NextRadio…they are blown away.” “‘Mobile’ is the biggest buzzword in
advertising today—and the fact is that radio is more mobile than what people think of as mobile,
namely the smartphone,” adds Radha Subramanyam, president, insights,
research and data analytics for iHeartMedia. “Radio is the best way for
advertisers to reach consumers outside of the home, when they’re on the go.”
Drew Horowitz, president and COO, Hubbard Radio, is convinced that the answer
lies in overcoming the perception issue. “We have to dim the glare of digital by showing the
strength and beauty of radio through ideation, execution and creative promotion
using our platform,” he says. “The digital platform is fun and is the shiny new
platform, [but] radio is the original mobile marketing medium.” “The
same old story is rarely exciting,” admits Bill McElveen, executive VP,
Southern region, Alpha Media. “But the story is about delivering results and we
need to tell it more effectively.” Roundtable Record—Read the entire
conversation only at InsideRadio.com.
Radio vs.
Digital Should Be Radio + Digital. To tell its story better vs. the media world’s giant hydra that is
digital, radio needs to stop making it “either/or” and start stressing the
advantage of making it “one-plus-one” in a smart, collective strategy. That’s
the consensus from six industry experts in part II of our four-part radio reach
roundtable. “The success
of radio has always been, and always will be, about touching people on a daily
basis,” says Steve Chessare, VP and market manager, Greater Media
Detroit. “As a medium,
radio is unsurpassed at meeting marketing objectives for our clients. Digital
is a piece of that strategy as one of our many ways to engage people…Digital
alone cannot achieve results equal to a plan that is a combination of all we
have: on-air, online and on-site.” “Radio can make digital more
effective,” adds Bill McElveen, executive VP, Southern region, Alpha Media. “It
is to our advantage to provide conclusive evidence that the use of radio makes
an advertiser’s digital spend more effective, moving the discussion away from
‘let’s use radio if there’s any money left over’ to ‘let’s use radio to make
our digital spend more effective.’ We need to passionately position our medium
to not only our advertisers but our staffs as well—and the word ‘passionately’
is key.” New statistics seem to provide more and more ammunition for the
effort—Nielsen recently reported that the actual weekly reach of AM/FM is
93%—and if it all comes down to simple results, the panel believes radio has a
boast-worthy story to tell. Says Scott Herman, COO of CBS Radio, “Clients who
use broadcast radio to promote a product, drive customers into their store or
deliver a brand message will tell you the medium is an effective form of
advertising.” Roundtable Record—read all our panelists’ answers to this
question at InsideRadio.com.
