Advertising news
Dear SA radio stations
Simon Parkinson has been working in radio for 26 years and loves the medium today as much as he did when he first stumbled across it back in 1990. In a recent opinion piece, Simon went on to highlight that “radio is the only medium that has actual human contact all the time, real people speaking and interacting with real people in real time.”
Simon argues that although television, print, outdoor and digital is important, it is actually radio advertising that provides a more personal conversation with the audience and drives an immediate response, emotion and interaction because let’s face it, radio can very quickly make you feel happy, sad, angry, frustrated and relieved within the space of minutes. However, once again, with any advertising campaign, it all comes down to the content. “Listeners will listen to great content and if it’s good they won’t notice the commercial element as it should be a perfect, natural fit. Smart stations will start engaging in content conversations that will be uncomfortable, but if they open their minds whilst guarding their programming integrity, they will find new ground and new opportunities to create solutions for their clients in a unique radio way.
Concepts that live and breathe on a radio station as part of its content, amplified via its audience with social media possibly activations etc., and monitored through a number of tools to prove the return on investment” says Simon. Radio as an opportunity to reach a wider audience at a rapid rate – is your brand going to take advantage?
Innovative Advertising Ideas
Advertisers need to get to grip with online radio
Ingrid von Stein, CEO & Founder of eBizradio.com, recently called out media agencies and brands for not focussing on online radio. She argues that media buying and PR agencies were formulated in the corporate era when Newspaper, Radio and TV were kings, the only problem is we live today in the post corporate era, hence the terms “New Media” and “Old Media”.
We may not realize it – it seems every day to us – but the current rate of technological change and adaptation is unprecedented in human history! Compare life today to ten years ago, there are some big differences. Our team enjoy exploring multiple advertising platforms for our clients and strongly believe that different avenues work best based on your content and target market. Online radio, podcasts, blogs and other streaming sites are currently being ignored or not utilized properly due to an old corporate mentality in the advertising industry and we are excited to work with brands to help them change this.
Online radio can be directly targeted to a set market segment; is measurable, is cost effective and allows for budgets to be spread into avenues that will yield results as it’s directly targeted to your clients’ target market. A few brands have braved the online segment and are getting positive engagement with their market – the emphasis here is on engagement as opposed to just viewing an ad. We look forward to seeing and feeling changes in the industry, if we look at some of the other African markets like Nigeria, Kenya and Zimbabwe – they have embraced the world of new media and its working for them.
Industry Information and Statistics
Independent Media titles show stable performance in latest ABCs
Independent Media grew its share of the South African daily newspaper market by 3,2% and the weekend newspaper market by 1,6% compared to the same period last year. These results were released by the Audited Bureau of Circulation (ABC) which measures newspapers and magazine circulation performance.
Five of Independent Media’s daily newspapers showed solid performance in the period January to March 2016 compared to the previous quarter (October to December 2015). Independent Media’s market strength was further reinforced by the solid performance of its magazine division, Conde Nast Independent (CNI), which showed an overall increase of 1,1% compared to the previous quarter. GQ increased by 2,6%, Glamour increased by 1% and House and Garden remained stable.
“Our market share increase together with the solid circulation performance of some of our key publications, is a testimony to our readers’ confidence in our publications. All kudos to our hard-working editorial teams. I commend them for showing tenacity and commitment during this very trying time in the print media industry,” said executive chairman of Independent Media, Dr Iqbal Survé.
Exciting Media Campaigns
Off to work with AK, ID and Isuzu
When Spitfire director AK and Ireland/Davenport came together to create Isuzu’s new TVC, it was off to work they went with a vengeance. Shot over seven days in thirteen challenging locations across the country, crew, cast and bakkies soon found out what they were made from: Real.
What’s happening in Africa
ShowMax expands internet TV service to sub-Saharan Africa
ShowMax, the internet TV service launched in August 2015, has expanded its footprint to 36 additional countries across sub-Saharan Africa. In total, ShowMax now supplies subscription video on demand services to 65 countries worldwide. ShowMax has officially launched internet TV services to 36 countries across sub-Saharan Africa. The company originally launched in August 2015 with the largest subscription video on demand catalogue on the continent. The sub-Saharan service costs US$ 7.99 per month for unlimited viewing. The catalogue includes approximately 15,000 TV show episodes and movies, totalling almost 10,000 hours of viewing. The service includes a Kiswahili language section and a Nollywood section, as well as an African Film section that pulls together classic movies from across the continent.
Barron Ernst, chief product officer for ShowMax commented: “The speed and cost of connectivity are significant hurdles for any internet-based service in Africa. Getting it right means you’ve got to do much more than just flick a switch. “We’ve been busy testing the service in key locations across the continent and optimising our delivery network. Perhaps more importantly, we’ve adapted our apps to address the needs of consumers in Africa, introducing features like downloads for viewing TV shows and movies when not connected.”