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August 23, 2006

Radio Advertising and The Future of Radio

Seth Godin, world famous business author and blogger, has laid out his predictions for what'll happen to, for, or with radio in the future.

My bet is that it'll be closest to either Scenario A or D. And it may be D followed by A. Scenario B will most certainly not happen over the long term because no matter what, there aren't enough people with enough time on their hands to constantly update their iPods with fresh new music. There'll always be demand for radio, and Seth kindly refers to this fact as he closes his blog entry.

"The idea of radio... audio determined by an external editor... isn't going away any time soon. People like it."

But what's worth noting for direct response radio advertisers is this: It doesn't matter which of these scenarios comes to pass.

Why? First, because none of these scenarios changes the fundamental basis for the effectiveness of radio advertising - the intimate connection with a targetable customer. Second, because as direct response advertisers we only pay for what works. Either a media outlet delivers a homogenous group of customers at a cost that allows for our clients' profitability, or it doesn't. If it does, it gets the business. If it doesn't, it doesn't.

So regardless of any crystal ball prediction about the future of radio, the fact remains that it won't go away, and that the successful radio media outlets will figure out how to offer content that aggregates an attractive grouping of customers. And advertisers who leverage direct response radio will continue to acquire profitable new customers to fuel their growth.

Posted by Jeff Small at 04:27 PM | Permalink