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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2015

Mobile Set To Take Digital Ad Lead. For the first time, mobile advertising is poised to grab a larger share of digital ad dollars than desktop advertising. According to new data from eMarketer, mobile will account for 51.9% of total digital spending in 2015, higher than the firm originally anticipated. It’s a trend that radio stations aggressively building their apps and mobile websites must keep watch over, especially as a lure for new clients. This year, mobile ad spend will reach $30.45 billion, and it’s expected to leap to $42 billion next year, eMarketer says. Over the next five years, mobile’s share of digital ad dollars will continue to increase, while desktop advertising will decline. That’s good news for radio stations that have been busy investing capital into their mobile products. As advertisers direct more money to mobile, it will play to radio’s digital strengths. Live streaming is typically the most popular feature of a radio station’s digital products, and much of that listening happens on a smartphone or tablet. Audio ads on radio’s mobile platforms are particularly attractive for clients looking to reach users on the move, including retailers, automotive and food advertisers. In contrast, popular desktop advertising methods, including banner ads, pay-per-click and homepage takeovers do not translate well to a smaller smartphone or tablet screens, making them less effective. And for radio, audio advertising is like a home field advantage, says Ricki Lee, executive director of Aiir, a digital solutions firm for radio stations. “Audio is where radio has always won. It is what radio is very good at,” he says. Lee also notes that radio stations can recruit new business by offering mobile audio advertising to clients that are exclusively digital advertisers and have never used over-the-air radio. Another possible play for revenue, Lee says, is created sponsored content that is exclusive to mobile apps, including on-demand podcasts.

Radio’s Big Audio Dynamite Is Mobile Gold. Mobile video advertising generates a lot of buzz, with advertisers long having bought in. But radio stations need to better seize their golden opportunity of getting brands to tap further into their audio ad capabilities, industry observers say. Stations have a mighty big dual advantage. They can and do offer video ads—on mobile or desktop—as preroll, sponsored content or during streaming sessions, and that offering is attractive to many advertisers. But radio’s mobile products are often heard and not seen, notes John Rosso, president of market development at broadcast tech company Triton Digital. “Most people, when they’re going to listen to radio through an app, are going to listen to it,” Rosso says. “It is in your purse or your pocket or on a passenger seat.” Marketers, Rosso notes, will pay premium CPMs for mobile video ads, but he questions the viewing possibilities for those ads on a radio station’s digital platforms. Users often activate the radio live-stream and then put the device away, or push the music to the background on the device. And while they may not see the station’s app or mobile site, they’re still listening. “That’s why we believe the audio ads are more powerful,” he says. At a time when streaming music use is growing, there are opportunities for radio stations to convert on their digital audiences. “Audio is the perfect ad unit for a mobile environment,” Rosso says. For radio stations looking to grow ad revenue, it is important to ramp up mobile advertising, especially given eMarketer research forecasts showing strong growth for mobile ad spending.

August Hot For Wheeling and Dealing. Radio’s top advertising category posted a better-than-expected August as consumers brushed off brutal stock prices and continued to drive off dealer lots in new cars and light trucks. The seasonally adjusted annualized sales rate, a key auto industry barometer, rocketed to 17.81 million, the highest pace since July 2005, according to Automotive News, for the strongest month yet in the industry’s six-year recovery. New car deliveries are up 3.9% to 11.6 million this year and

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are expected to exceed 17 million. That’s happened only twice before. U.S. sales were up 4.5% through July. “Low gasoline prices, steady employment growth and favorable financing continued to support new-vehicle demand last month,” the Automotive News story states. With 2015 Labor Day holiday sales included in September this year, August deliveries were forecast to drop 3.3% due a shorter selling season last month compared to August 2014. Instead, the dip was just 0.7%. What’s more, the seasonally adjusted annualized sales rate for August was forecast to come in at 17.3 million, flat with the August 2014 rate. The SAAR has exceeded 17 million for five out of seven months this year. Among the majors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler posted sales increases while their Japanese competitors slid. Ford volume climbed 5.7% and Fiat Chrysler inched up 1.7%. “In spite of a tough 2014 comparison and extreme stock market volatility, our dealers’ competitive spirit kicked in and propelled us,” Reid Bigland, head of U.S. sales for Fiat Chrysler, told Automotive News. General Motors was down marginally, while Toyota decreased 8.8%, Honda dropped 6.9% and Nissan dipped 0.8%. But Subaru set a monthly record in the U.S. with a 4.9% year-over-year gain in August.

Low-Power FMs Caught In Non-Comm Crossfire. The National Association of Broadcasters came out swinging yesterday against a proposal by low-power radio advocates to convert the service from non-commercial to commercial status. In comments filed with the FCC on Tuesday, the NAB says the proposal by the Low Power FM Advocacy Group (LPFM-AG) would “completely upend” the LPFM service as a hyper-local, commercial-free forum for nonprofits, schools, religious and other community organizations. LPFM-AG, which doesn’t represent all low-power broadcasters, in late-July asked the commission to allow the stations to sell advertising and let owners buy multiple stations and sell them at a profit. Succeeding as a noncommercial service was financially impossible, it argued. Not true, the NAB countered, citing data from LPFM consulting group REC Network that found the failure rate for LPFMs was 10.5% and that most who ceased operations did so due to technical, zoning or programming issues, not a lack of financial resources. Allowing LPFMs to sell commercials may help their bottom line, NAB says, but it would change the fundamental nature and value of the service. “Any commercial LPFM station would inevitably feel pressure to maximize its consumer appeal to support its advertisers, at the expense of its primary purpose or target audience,” the NAB writes. Reauthorizing scores of licenses from noncommercial to commercial would have a massive regulatory impact, not to mention all the regulatory fees, music royalties and EAS rules the stations would be subject to, NAB officials say. It would also increase risk of interference to FM stations. “Physics dictate that LPFM cannot become a primary service without impeding full-power services,” the NAB writes, asking the FCC to reject the petition.

July Favors Hubbard, Univision, iHeart On the Web. When it came to growing online listening, Hubbard Radio, Univision Radio and iHeartMedia were the broadcasters to beat in July. Each posted double-digit growth in Average Active Sessions (AAS) in the Monday-Sunday, 6am-12 midnight daypart compared to one year earlier. Hubbard grew its streaming audience 11.6% to 5,951 sessions, according to new data released by Triton Digital. Univision grew 11.3% to 14,050 while iHeartMedia increased 9.8% to 264,196. Other broadcasters showing year-over-year growth in July were Beasley Media Group (+8.4%), ESPN Radio (+7.3%) and Salem (+6.8%). AccuRadio topped the list of pureplay webcasters with 20% YOY growth in July, followed by Prisa Radio (+5.1%), Pandora (+5%) and Idobi (+0.2%). All other pureplay and broadcast webcasters were either flat or declining. “July is a traditionally flat-to-slightly-down month for Internet radio as a whole,” notes Kurt Hanson, publisher of the RAIN newsletter and CEO of AccuRadio. Compared to June, the combined total AAS of Triton’s Webcast Metrics Top 20 was down 1.8% this year, after slipping 0.1% in 2014 and 2013, dropping 1.2% in 2012 and decreasing 4.5% in 2011. Slice the numbers differently, however, and the folks at Townsquare Media are happy to have time on their side. Townsquare posted an Average Time Spent Listening (ATSL) of 1.52 hours in July, 50% higher than No. 2 New York Public Radio. Among pureplays, idobi Radio was on top with 1.97 hours, followed by AccuRadio (1.79 hours). ATSL refers to the average number of hours for each session with duration of at least one minute in total within the reported time period.

Online Listening Numbers Through the Roof. In the short run, Internet radio may take a “weather be damned” approach, cooling down from June to July, but across a wider time frame, the larger trend is clear: Online listening continues to grow, for both broadcasters and Web pureplays. Across both major dayparts tracked by Triton Digital, listening grew by leaps and bounds in July, compared to

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one year earlier. Average Active Sessions within the domestic U.S. grew 38.1% to 4.078 million during the Monday-Friday, 6am-8pm daypart and 41% to 3.463 million during the Monday-Sunday, 6am-12 midnight time span. Not only is online listening growing, it’s also rapidly shifting from desktops to smartphones and tablets. Mobile listening reached a new all-time high in July, representing 76.1% of total online listening compared to 23.9% on desktops. Mobile listening has grown 10% over the past eleven months, per Triton. No format experienced a larger listening increase in July than urban AC, which jumped 4.7% when compared to June. Other month-over-month gainers included country (+1.8%), news/talk (+1.2%) and urban contemporary (+0.9%).

Ad Insider: Something New In Store For Mazda Customers. Mazda has just opened its first new prototype store, with plans to roll out additional showrooms this year and about 75 more next year. “We’re attaining a much more sophisticated customer than we were in the past and we want to make sure our retail experience fits what these customers are looking for,” James Sullivan, president and CEO, Mazda North American Operations, said. Meanwhile, the latest news from the furniture business suggests the good times should continue for a while—new furniture orders at factories were up 10% in June, the latest month for which numbers are available. Year-to-date shipments were up 7% over the first six months of 2014 and 69% of the participants in Smith Leonard’s survey say they are running ahead of last year’s numbers….July numbers for another important advertiser category were also good. Nearly three-quarters of restaurant operators said their business improved in July according to the Restaurant Performance Index from the National Restaurant Association. Nation’s Restaurant News reports that 73% of operators posted same-store sales gains for the month, up from 64% in June. And 59% saw traffic increases, up from 47% the month prior….A different study from the National Restaurant Association (done for the first time in 16 years) finds that Italian food remains the most popular ethnic cuisine in the country, with 61% of diners reporting eating Italian food at least once per month. Mexican food (50%) and Chinese food (36%) were the runners-up in the study.

Summer Format Fight Takes Classic Turn. Classic Hits proponents looking to make a case for the Greatest Hits genre to capture the “Format of the Summer” status found evidence to strengthen their case in the first two days of August survey ratings from Nielsen. In Boston, WROR sprinted 6.7-7.6, padding its lead in the market. In Minneapolis, “Kool 108” KQQL made a very cool 8.4-9.3 gain. Classic hits cracked a 7.0 share in Philadelphia, where WOGL regained the top spot in a tie with AC WBEB. The format strengthened its share in New York (where it finished second on WCBS-FM) and made gains in Miami (WMXJ, 4.1-4.4) and in Seattle (KJR-FM, 5.5-5.7). Meanwhile, AC is quietly have a moment of its own in the August survey. The format made king-sized jumps in Philly (WBEB, 6.3-7.0) Detroit (WNIC, 4.8-5.3) and Miami (WFEZ, 5.7-6.6). And AC took a big step forward in Baltimore where WLIF jumped 6.1-6.9. It grew in New York (WLTW, 6.9-7.1) and inched ahead in Boston (WMJX, 5.9-6.1). AC was also on the rise in August in Seattle (KRWM 5.1-5.5), St. Louis (KEZK 3.8-4.3), Tampa (WWRM 5.1-5.6) and Washington, DC (WASH 6.0-6.4). Head to StationRatings.com for more results from Nielsen’s August survey.

Oh, We Think Radio Found Itself a Summer Song. With Labor Day around the corner, it’s high time to decree 2015’s Song of the Summer. And the winner is… probably… going to be… OMI’s “Cheerleader,” based on Billboard’s SOS chart, which tracks the most popular songs based on total Hot 100 chart performance from Memorial Day through the first week of September. It hasn’t been an easy pick, and it’s still not totally decided. The chart has had Wiz Khalifa’s (featuring Charlie Puth) “See You Again” at the top for 13 weeks, however, chart guru Gary Trust believes OMI will ultimately win the race at the end of this week. “Cheerleader” ruled the all-inclusive Hot 100 for six nonconsecutive weeks, helping handicap the breakthrough hit from OMI (Omar Samuel Pasley), which Trust says “looks likely to close out summer as the season’s top title.” Likewise, Edison Research’s Sean Ross opts for “Cheerleader,” noting: “It’s hard to come up with a more profound case than ‘reggae + dance music = extra summer smash insurance’ in 2015. The song’s sweetness probably counts for something as well. ‘Cheerleader’ has done a good job of defining this summer.” In his book, the song’s primary competitors have been The Weeknd’s “Can’t Feel My Face” and again, Wiz Khalifa’s “See You Again.” Other contenders in the upper reaches of Billboard’s Song of the Summer chart include Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood,” Fetty Wap’s “Trap Queen,” Walk the Moon’s “Shut Up and Dance” and Jason Derulo’s “Want To Want Me.”

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Spanish DJ Flies Heroes To L.A. Studio. In a demonstration of the power of radio to spread positive messages, Spanish radio morning man Eddie “Piolin” Sotelo invited three men onto his syndicated show who recently helped rescue a woman involved in a domestic violence incident. The incident—a woman in Oklahoma City, OK was being beaten by her husband in a parking lot when four strangers came to her defense—came to the host’s attention after he saw a video online and asked his listeners on-air if any of them knew the men who came to her aid. It turns out three of them were listening to the broadcast and called in to identify themselves. Sotelo first interviewed the Good Samaritans on his show and then flew them to Los Angeles for an in-studio appearance, broadcast on Sept. 1. “El Show de Piolin” airs weekday mornings in 45 markets and is syndicated by Alliance Radio Networks. The men, who were passing through on their way to El Paso, TX, approached the couple, who were arguing in their vehicle, and tried to assist the woman. After she managed to get out of the car, her husband directed the vehicle at the men, although he didn’t hit them. The husband, identified as Douglas Beckham, was arrested, brought up on two charges of assault with a deadly weapon, and one charge of domestic assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. On yesterday’s Piolin broadcast, one of the men who helped, Juan De Dios, admitted, “When the man in the truck drove toward us, I thought we were going to get run over.” And after the husband drove off, “The lady told us ‘thank you’ and we gave her a hug so she could feel calm.”

Samsung Milks Its Streaming Sports Link. Another streaming audio service is expanding into live sports play-by-play. With the start of college football season only days away, Samsung Electronics America’s streaming service, Samsung Milk Music, is adding live game broadcasts to its roster. And, later this fall, the service will add live streams of college basketball games as well. Starting September 3, Samsung Milk Music, which is only available for Samsung phones and tablets but is free for those that have them, will stream more than 900 college football games from 122 universities. When the college basketball season tips off, the service will carry more than 3,000 games from 137 teams. That college sports lineup, Samsung says, is more than any other streaming service. “Complementing the radio listening experience, our consumers have the flexibility to enjoy their favorite team’s games, no matter where they are, on the device they love and use every day,” John Pleasants, executive VP, Samsung Media Solutions Center America, said in a statement. Samsung Milk is using college sports to help build out a new sports genre on its service. Plans call for offering feeds from both the home and away games, so fans can choose their favorite team’s audio and perspective. The sports content is enabled by SportsLabs and will include pregame and postgame audio programming. Samsung Milk Music is also partnering with CBS Radio to carry sports talk from its CBS Radio National Sports talk shows. A sports guide located on the main menu will be updated daily with listings of all of that day’s available broadcasts, as well as final scores. The news comes one week after online audio aggregator TuneIn announced it would add an $8 a month package of live play-by-play of Major League Baseball and Barclays Premier League soccer.

Hartman Celebrates 60 Years With WCCO. The North Star state is honoring Sid Hartman, whose own star has shown brightly for six decades as an on-air host in Minnesota. Since 1955, he has worked as a personality at “NewsRadio 830” WCCO, Minneapolis as one of the region’s most beloved sportscasters. The north Minneapolis native joined the station’s staff as a well-known newspaper columnist and today, at age 95, he is also one of CBS Radio’s oldest employees. In a release, CBS notes that throughout his career, Hartman “has interviewed nearly everyone in the sports world,” and remains an integral part of the station’s Minnesota Twins, Vikings, North Stars and Gophers broadcasts. He has also hosted such features as “Hartman’s Corner” and “Today’s Sports Hero,” while reporting daily sports news. His Sunday morning “Sports Huddle” program, which he has hosted for 26 years with Chuck Lillegren and Dave Mona, is a sports fan destination within the market. In 2011, Hartman was honored by both the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Los Angeles Lakers for his contributions, while serving as the acting GM of the Minneapolis Lakers. In addition, the Minnesota Twins honored him with “Sid Hartman Day” at Target Field in 2014, and as part of the MLB All-Star game festivities that year. Further, a youth baseball field in his childhood neighborhood was named “Sid Hartman Field.”

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