1-30-2012
Bill Koenigsberg is the President, CEO and Founder of Horizon Media, one of the largest independent media agencies in the world. With offices in New York, Los Angeles, San Diego and Amsterdam Horizon has 650 employees and annual billings of $3 billion. Koenigsberg is also Chairman of the 4As Media Committee and has played a vital role in getting advertising agencies to adopt policies to abolish the No Urban/No Hispanic dictates the media industry has been dealing with for so many years. Advertising Age Magazine just named Koenigsberg Advertising Executive of the Year and this past Friday we spoke to Koenigsberg to get his take on radio.
For so many years, despite all the radio friendly stats Arbitron throws out stating the number of radios per household, the percentage of people who listen to radio and consumers listen through long stopsets none of those statistics have helped radio increase (as an industry) its revenue share with advertisers. For what seems like decades, radio has only been able to muster up about 7% of an advertiser's budget. So we asked Koenigsberg what it was going to take for radio to increase that number. Not surprisingly, his answer had nothing to do with the typical radio research which, to an advertiser, really means nothing.
"I think multiple things. One is, and I have been very vocal about this, proving cause and effect, return on investment...is the golden goose, the holy grail. Radio needs to do a better job of proving attribution, if I spend a dollar in radio, my return is "X" vs. a dollar somewhere else. That's one. Two, and I think that Bob Pittman is trying very hard to reinvent radio at Clear Channel. I think radio has become a bit static and needs to reinvent itself. Now, how it reinvents itself, I'm not quite sure. Radio has got to become more of an engagement vehicle. Engagement is critical for advertisers today. A lot of people listen to radio in the background and it's not intrusive, and it's not engaging. It is more passive. How do you make radio more engaging? So, I think return of investment proof and engagement proof is critical. If you can prove that, they will be buying radio all day long."
(1/30/2012 8:41:48 PM)
Although Steve inquires: "What am I missing?", the answer is still "Not much - if anything."
However, the more difficult generalization about radio listeners is their inability to RECALL the content of ads.
There is an explanation-of-sorts offered in a recent Radio Ink article: http://www.radioink.com/Article.asp?id=2342813&spid=41252
Meanwhile, Steve's other comments about closing those loops, I believe, also have significant credibility.
Fact is: demonstrating efficacy of our services is something that is definitely on the "Honey Do"-list.
(1/30/2012 3:59:36 PM)
I don't see radio's 'trackability' as a huge challenge to overcome? Maybe I'm not clear on what the expectations are with tracking, but with things like SMS, unique URL's, data base opt-ins, QR Codes, and the like, we should be able to close that loop and move forward delivering what marketers are looking for - more trackable campaigns. What am I missing?
(1/30/2012 12:13:36 PM)
Nice to see some smart guys coming out of the woodwork.
Still, I wonder about how many executives would continue rearing up with the demand to "Stop telling me how to run my business!"
(This would be the same business, by the way, that has been around longer than any other electronic media and still can't pick up more than 7% of the available revenues.)
Gosh-a-rooties! How can that be...? This is definitely stuff that makes me go, "Hmmmm".
(1/30/2012 11:27:43 AM)
No need to reinvent the wheel. Everything that you need to know about radio success is available by studying what was successful in the past.
Here's a bit of my radio philosophy that you can either take or leave, as you wish.
First, times change, but people don't. We may think that we do, but we really don't.
What's old or very old is new to someone that hasn't seen it before. So, feel free to steal ideas from your predecessors. They don't, won't, or can't care if you do.
And lastly, programming is King. If your listeners don't care for what you're broadcasting, find something they do like and care about. It may take quite a lot of your time digging for real golden content, but it will pay off in a big way.
(1/30/2012 11:19:39 AM)Yes, radio needs to re-invent itself; it also needs to re-inVEST in itself.
The trend, since deregulation, has been away from live and local talent, and outside of CC's Prophet system (which, in and of itself is a bit dated), the automation platforms have been rather stale, themselves.
A club DJ can do what today's contemporary radio stations SHOULD be doing - mixing mp4s (videos) streaming on their website and potentially a local cable channel (for another revenue source) heard on their FM.
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