The research report is posted here. Spotify commissioned a world-wide sample of 9000 podcast listeners under 35. I don’t know the value of including people in Banghladesh with people in Brooklyn, but it ain’t my money. Big finding? (Fanfare/ TA-Dahh): Audio advertising works! This report was about podcast ads, yes. But what are those but what was and always has been called radio ads. Okay, let’s call’em Audio Ads, now. To me, this report just shows again what I learned in my childhood in this business. Radio advertising was and remains the most effective and cost-efficient form of advertising. Nothing tops it except word-of-mouth from a friend or a neighbor, or even from the lady you happen into a conversation with at the market. And what is the essence of the radio medium but just that? Another person telling you something, only without the person’s physical presence.
I say all that to get to this point: Podcast advertising is so successful because uncluttered. There’s almost never more than two spots back-to-back. If there be more, the spot cluster is seldom more than two minutes. What’s the average spot-break time on the typical big-market American radio station? Six minutes or so? A while back, driving into Dallas, I counted a dozen, TWELVE spots back to back on a station I consulted back when. It felt kinda’ like I’d lost a kid to drugs.
So as we listen to that, let’s consider this: The most iconic and influential music radio station of all time was KHJ/Los Angeles. Born in the spring of 1965 it redefined the structure and presentation of Top 40 rock ‘n roll radio. What was the hourly spot load? Seven minutes presented in six 70-second breaks. The station made a whole bunch of money in what was then the most competitive radio market in the world.
