Radio InSights

Boyle: Groups Do Not Appear Ready to Institute Revolutionary Changes

Both Inside Radio and R&R Today reprinted the scathing assessment one Wall Street analyst offered regarding the state of radio. The two publications, however, chose to present different spins on the focus of his criticisms. Here’s how Inside Radio chose to summarize CL King & Associates senior analyst Jim Boyle’s comments on their front page on August 20th:

Boyle blasts radio’s largest groups for not doing enough to make the "revolutionary changes" necessary to help radio recover. He says "There is a notable sense of denial of how harsh the prospects have been and continue to be for radio. The classic CEO reply is radio is not bleeding as badly as newspapers. We concede there is too little radio ad demand, but there is also too little rate card integrity and too little investment in radio’s product and people for the long-term."

Here’s what Inside Radio left out that R&R chose to include:

The industry’s larger groups do not appear ready to institute revolutionary changes yet in sales, programming, promotion or station clusters.

Leaving out one sentence may not seem significant, but one of radio’s problems is that our industry’s leaders (including Inside Radio’s owners) refuse to accept the notion that we are in this fix because of radio’s obsession with cutting costs. While Inside Radio touches on "radio’s product and people," the focus of the quote is sales. Focusing on sales issues implies that radio is more a victim. Boyle’s criticism is far broader suggesting that the real problem is lack of leadership.

This is not the first time Boyle has criticized radio’s leadership. In 2004 he wrote:

The giant radio platforms, whose execs are spread too thin and are more distant from the local setting, have been under-performers by several operational metrics.

Four years and many budget cut-backs later radio is no better off. Revenues continue to drift southwards with no end in sight. Boyle was right in 2004 and his new assessment is accurate. When radio came under attack by alternative media including satellite and internet radio we failed to respond. Rather than invest and innovate, radio responded by turning program directors into product custodians, cutting programming and marketing budgets, and adding commercial inventory.

Years of cut-backs has proved that radio cannot solve its problems by cutting expenses. Radio will not turn around until it begins to invest to prove to listeners and media buyers that we believe in the product. When will Boyle's "giant radio platform" leaders finally get the message?

How Arbitron Spends Your Money

Media Post reports that Arbitron is trying to break into the out-of-home video measurement business. Here's how Media Post reported the news:

As out-of-home video grows by leaps and bounds and the industry collaborates to produce a common audience metric, Arbitron is angling for a piece of the measurement business. It is using both its custom survey division and its new Portable People Meter, a passive electronic measurement device.

Most recently, the company said its Arbitron Custom division was hired by KidCare TV--a place-based digital video network in general pediatric waiting rooms--to gauge the response of visitors and employees to the network, which delivers content about childhood-related illnesses and preventative health care.

In this capacity, Arbitron will conduct visitor surveys to determine general awareness of the medium, advertising recall and sentiment about the content. Carol Hanley, a senior vice president of sales for Arbitron, remarked: "By better understanding audiences, KidCare TV will be better able to compete with traditional media. Developing metrics on engagement and consumer experience will provide advertisers with audience delivery validation for improved return on investment."

Arbitron has also promoted its Portable People Meter, a passive electronic measurement device, as a measurement option for television viewing outside the home.

In January, the company contracted with BroadSign to perform third-party proof-of-play audits for its digital signage network. To make their content measurable by PPM measurement, place-based video networks need only encode it with an inaudible tagging system.

Almost a decade ago, Arbitron proposed partnering with Nielsen Media Research to use PPM for TV measurement, but was rebuffed in 2006 when Nielsen terminated its option to join in the PPM commercial rollout. Subsequently, Nielsen signed a deal with Integrated Media Measurement Inc. to measure out-of-home exposure with a panel of 4,700 people carrying specially modified AT&T cell phones; the service is scheduled to launch this summer.

The story is interesting for several reasons. First, nothing about Arbitron's video efforts have been reported in the radio trades. You'd think that at least one of the dailies would have mentioned that radio is effectively funding these attempts to expand beyond radio.

Most broadcasters would also find it interesting that Arbitron has been doing in-bar research for some time and has the results of its latest study on the Arbitron web site. Download it here.

We found it particularly ironic that Arbitron didn't bother to measure terrestrial radio interest in the study. They only asked about satellite radio listening. It say's a lot about what Arbitron really thinks of us (a dead-end) and where Arbitron thinks it can grow its business (satellite).