(PODCASTING) They're On To Us

8-8-2012

By Brian Baltosiewich

It's not much of a secret that the government hasn't quite figured the Internet out, at least in terms of regulating it.
In fact, as far as podcasters are concerned, the sky's the limit. The only thing I tell Radio Exiles' podcasters is, "Don't get us sued." As professional broadcasters, we know what's right and what isn't.

But there's evidence that the government is at least making an effort to figure it out, but what I'm about to hip you to isn't coming from whom you might think --  and it's definitely worth paying attention to.

Food blogs are a growing part of the Internet (my wife has a food blog at cafeterrablog.com) and the Federal Trade Commission is leaning on food bloggers as they attempt to monetize their blogs. I think there is a very real connection between what the FTC is expecting from food bloggers, and what we're doing in our podcasts.

An article you can find at  http://diannej.com/blog/2012/05/new-ftc-rules-on-writing-reviews-affiliations-and-sponsored-posts/  outlines some of the details in another article called "The FTC's Revised Endorsement Guides Impact How Companies Can Advertise Through Social Media."

The above-linked article basically says that if you have a blog (read "podcast") that "reviews, participates in an affiliate program or gets paid to mention a product?" you'd better listen up.

If you receive a product to review, if you link to a product's website and receive money for it (like an affiliate program with Amazon, ProFlowers, GoDaddy, etc.), if you receive a product to use on your podcast, or if you receive any product or service that comes from an advertiser on your site, this all applies to you.

Now, at this point in the lifespan of podcasting, this seems to apply to most of us. Tech podcasts do reviews all the time. Most of us have affiliate agreements, some of us might be using a microphone received in exchange for mentions.

If that's you, the FTC now requires you to "disclose" your arrangements not only with a blanket statement at your site, but in the (blog) podcast itself.

Quoting now: "So long as the disclosure clearly and conspicuously conveys to the reader the relationship between the blogger and the advertiser, the disclosure will be adequate," states the (original) article.

And that's not all, you're gonna love this: The article suggests that if you tweet about a product you've been compensated for, or received for free, that tweet should include the hashtag #paid or #ad or #spon.

And you could be fined if your blog (podcast) contains misleading representations about a product.

Check out the above-linked article, and the original if you really want to get into the nitty gritty.

Full disclosure: The article does state that the FTC isn't exactly pouring through blogs? yet. But if something comes to their attention, they will follow up.

Now, I expect some of you to make the argument that a blog and a podcast are apples and oranges. I don't think so, and doubt the FTC would make that distinction either.

Better safe than you-know-what.

Brian Baltosiewich has been a broadcast professional for more than 20 years. His podcast website www.radioexiles.com features professionally produced podcasts from radio pro's who have lost their gigs.
Reach out to him at brian@radioexiles.com or through the Twitter account @radioexiles and on Facebook at radioexiles.com

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(Commentary) They're Laughing At Us.

by Ed Ryan

I keep thinking about the advertisers. The advertisers in Tampa listening to the radio. The advertisers in Birmingham reading their mail. The advertisers our staff interviewed this week about how radio's account executives need a Zig Ziglar lesson in follow-up. I keep thinking about the 7% or 8% of the advertising revenue pie we happily walk from the table with. The same percentage we were getting when I first left Radio Ink 10 years ago. Doesn't really seem much has changed in a decade and this week was a real eye opener. Well, 10 years ago we weren't driving around in our cars listening to the Internet.

In Tampa, the advertisers are being entertained by at least one radio station mocking the age of another radio station's morning man as they hope to steal listeners with a similar format. In Birmingham advertisers will read a letter from one station berating another for complaining about Arbitron's antiquated diary system. The letter was ripe with unflattering remote broadcast pictures. Randy Michaels might say that's good old fashion fun radio. Maybe. I never was a big fan of the competitor beat-down.

On the phone this week we spoke with a New York City media buyer who, much to our surprise, said her radio reps were hard to reach and slow to respond. Blackberry's. iPhones. iPads. Slow to respond? hard to reach? Slow to respond? Baffling. Here's a quote from a local direct radio client we also spoke with. "Follow-through would be nice. In the age of emails, it is amazing how difficult it is to get some of these guys sometimes. We don?t need them in our office every day or even every week or every month. We need to communicate if we have an issue.  We shoot them an email and would like a response." What's going on out there?

Yesterday was the start of something quite interesting. Pandora took step one giant step toward picking your pockets. As you know by now, Pandora sent out specific ratings for 10 major markets. And they did it in language buyers, agencies and local advertisers understand. They did it in your language, even though they don't have to. They did it to prove a point, I think. It's almost like a taunt. We can speak your language or we can speak ours. "Radio is radio" Westegren says. And he knows we can't speak his yet. Maybe Clear Channel will, in September. We should be thankful Pittman is now on our side.

Pandora doesn't need to demonstrate AQH or Ratings points or share, they have actual listening numbers. They are needling you. They are warning you. They are laughing at you. To date, Pandora has local sales offices set up in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Detroit, and Portland. Don?t think you operate in a safe market. They will be everywhere. Pandora salespeople can go into an advertiser and show them who was listening when and for how long and who clicked on a banner or viewed a coupon. They can go into a local advertiser and say you Mr. advertiser are going to be one of only two or three ads heard in an hour. And we can pooh pooh it all we want. It's going to happen but we shouldn't try to argue it away. We should have a plan.

When a Pandora salesperson shows up to the local car dealer with something new and exciting, real listener numbers, are you confident you can compete? When they show up with their iPad and a spec pre-roll video ad that thunders across the showroom in full surround sound and a proposal that geo-targets by zip code or neighborhood, can you compete with your spiraled paper proposal, signal-strength circles, extrapolated data and 24-hour rotators in a 12 minute commercial pod? When they push a real ad out to 2,000 users in your backyard offering free music downloads to the first 200 people to show up to Bob's Gun and Garden shop, can you really compete with your station van, balloons and free hot dogs?

Something else to think about. Are you confident that your top salespeople will stay at your station when Pandora sets up a local sales shop and starts hiring? What if your best salesperson was offered an opportunity to make more money - all Internet companies seem to be an endless pit of V.C. cash - geo-targeting ads for clients she already has great relationships with? Might want to revisit that non-compete Monday. What if they want to run "we're hiring" ads on your station?

We keep saying Pandora is an iPod on shuffle or a feature or a fad. We keep saying our communities love our radio stations and our morning show. And some or all of that may be true. The fact is a small business - or a big business -  could care less what we think. If they are getting measurable results from sales reps that follow up and follow through, that's all they care about. Relationships are good for a cup of coffee. R.O.I. is everything to a business owner.

Ed Ryan is the Editor-in-Chief of Radio Magazine. He can be reached via e-mail edryan@radioink.com or the old fashioned way  239-247-3833. You can also follow Radio Ink on Facebook and on Twitter (@Radio_Ink)

(7/29/2011 6:35:46 AM)
Enough about Pandora! Is Radio Ink being paid to promote it? Well, congratulations you're doing a great job of giving them endless publicity.

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