Radio+Television Business Report

NEW YORK — As Forecast 2022 wound down and media executives gathered at the Harvard Club to socialize over cocktails for the first time in over 18 months, the Chief Executive Officer of Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) had some big news to share.

On Friday morning, that information became public, putting Apollo Global Management and the media company it controls, Cox Media Group, on the hot seat. In short, SBS has asked the FCC to deny CMG’s request for additional time to divest two FMs in Florida — something that must be done per the terms of Apollo’s acquisition of CMG majority control.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — It’s little secret that they are very much against the “Build Back Better” reconciliation package passed on a party-line vote by Democrats. But, two leading Republicans on the powerful House Energy & Commerce Committee are disgusted over what they perceive is an “unprecedented influx of funding” to the FCC.

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The RBR+TVBR InFOCUS Podcast, presented by dot.FM, continues to attract new listeners.

And, if you’ve never heard one of these audio reports hosted by Radio + Television Business Report Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson, now is your chance to tune in and catch up on what your peers have been listening to.

Since October 1, thousands of industry leaders have downloaded our podcasts. But, which one has attracted the most listeners?

Michael Lee

Introducing Michael Lee, LPTVBA Executive Director.

In this InFOCUS Podcast, Lee offers a comprehensive update on why his organization seeks passage of the “Local Journalism Sustainability Act” as low-power television stations attract buyers ranging from The E.W. Scripps Co. and Gray Television to entrepreneurs including LPTVBA founder Frank Copsidas and South Asian TV programming specialist Ravi Kapur.

It’s the most-listened-to podcast since it was first distributed October 28!

 

 

Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: Michael Lee, LPTV Broadcasters Assn.” on Spreaker.

In mid-February 2021, Audacy Inc. shares were priced at $6.26 per share, swiftly rising from a $2.80 per share price seen in early January.

By mid-March, a slow and steady deceleration for the company’s NYSE-traded stock would commence. By November 1, AUD seemingly seemed content on staying in the mid-$3 range.

With Thursday’s Closing Bell on Wall Street, Audacy’s shares have now retreated to where they sat on January 4.

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NEW YORK — Across the third quarter of 2021, broadcast media executives touted their performance and what they bring to consumers and advertisers in conference call after conference call for analysts and investors to digest.

But, what about the broadcast companies that aren’t publicly traded — in particular the small to mid-sized players that continue to enjoy strong cash flow and boast low leverage levels? Forecast 2022 was the exclusive home for such a discussion, with The Cromwell Group‘s CEO joined by the owner of WISH-8 and WNDY-TV in Indianapolis, JVC Broadcasting‘s President/CEO, Lilly Broadcasting‘s CEO and noted broker and licensee Larry Patrick all participating.

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A little lamb of a television station may be roaring like a lion, thanks to a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture handed to its owner by the Video Division of the FCC’s Media Bureau.

A similar NAL, one double in value, was also handed out to Eastern Florida State College.

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Following close examination of new COVID protocols from the Dutch government and consultation with key IBC stakeholders, IBC2021 recently declared that it is “firmly set” on delivering a safe and valuable event in Amsterdam from December 3-6.

That has not stopped the flow of technology companies, which include some of broadcast media’s bigger suppliers, from pulling out of the biggest event outside of the NAB Show for the global radio and telecommunications industries.

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Until now, it has been a Canton, Ohio-market Class A offering Christian Talk & Teaching programming as “The Light.”

Soon, the light will be extinguished, and is poised to be flooded with a little love, or some rarefied air.

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NEW YORK — The “No Hispanic Dictate.” It still rears its ugly head, and for Jason Hall, EVP of Advertising Sales at Estrella Media, Hispanic Buying Power doesn’t equate to the 3%-4% of total advertising investments being placed on U.S. Hispanic media in 2021.

“There’s a lot of brands that still don’t get,” added Isabel Rafferty, CEO at Canela Media.

Both Hispanic market leaders participated in a prerecorded virtual panel presented Thursday as part of the Hispanic TV Summit produced by Joe Schramm for the Virtual Fall TV 2021 event.

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NEW YORK — Just in time for the holiday shopping season, Pearl TV — the business organization led by Anne Schelle representing U.S. broadcast television companies — has shared the first images of an upcoming NEXTGEN TV holiday brand marketing campaign.

For Pearl TV, the effort is designed to “deepen consumer awareness and engagement.”

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NEW YORK — Speaking at Forecast 2022 on Tuesday, Scott Schober of Cybersecurity Ventures and President/CEO of Berkeley Varitronics Systems soberly shared with attendees of the daylong conference that they will never stay ahead of the hackers. But, there are several things one can do to keep hackers at bay.

Building on that theme, cybersecurity company Surfshark has new facts that sound new alarms when it comes to online security. They start with e-mail address protection.

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NEW YORK — Among the many activities occurring this week, aside from Forecast 2022, that involve the broadcast television industry was the first-ever “Measurement Innovation Forum,” hosted by NBCU.

The owner of NBC and Telemundo enjoyed representation from every corner of the industry. Following the Forum, former Nielsen thought leader Kelly Abcarian, today NBCUniversal’s EVP/Measurement & Impact for Advertising & Partnerships, shared an update on the Measurement RFP process with each measurement partner.

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Winners for the 30th anniversary Radio Mercury Awards were announced virtually this evening at the 2021 event.

This year’s winners captured the creativity taking place during the last year and a half and reflect these unprecedented times. During tonight’s awards, Alejandro Ortiz, executive creative director, Campbell Ewald Detroit/NY, was announced as the chief judge for the 2022 Radio Mercury Awards. Additionally, it was announced that the Creative Use of Nonbroadcast Audio category ended in a tie, resulting in two winners.

“This year, it took us two days to fully deliberate, as this year’s winners really impressed the jury with their overall approach to messaging and storytelling,” said Robin Fitzgerald, chief judge and chief creative officer, BBDO Atlanta. “The winning work shone through, made us laugh, feel inspired and even made us a little hungry for soup dumplings.”

“The 30th anniversary awards presentation once again reflected the power of radio creative and its ability to grow brands and deliver for advertisers,” noted Erica Farber, president and chief executive officer, Radio Advertising Bureau, and chair of the Radio Creative Fund. “The Radio Mercury Awards continue to advance the medium forward by showcasing innovative, creative and effective radio and audio commercial work.”

The virtual presentation, produced by the Radio Advertising Bureau and hosted by Fitzgerald and Chris Smith, principal and chief creative officer, Plot Twist Creativity, featured this year’s final round jury, who served as presenters for the awards alongside previous Radio Mercury Awards best-of-show winners. The full list of presenters included: John Berman, executive creative director, R/GA; Mitch Bennett, executive creative director, Baldwin&; Nathalie Brown, executive creative director, VMLY&R; Bianca Guimaraes, partner and executive creative director, Mischief NY; Mark Gross, co-founder and chief creative officer, Highdive; Paul Johnson, freelance copywriter and creative director, New York; Derrick Ogilvie, vice president/creative director, BBDO Atlanta; Alejandro Ortiz, executive creative director, Campbell Ewald Detroit/NY and Sherman Winfield, executive creative director, VMLY&R Atlanta.

Finalists and attendees from across the country celebrated this year’s winners virtually.

Event sponsors for this year’s awards event include: Audacy, iHeartMedia, Nielsen, Pomann Sound, Sound and Fury and World Wide Wadio. Dedicated sponsors are Cherry Creek Media, Oink Ink Radio, Triton Digital and Xperi, along with general sponsors CBS News Radio, Forcht Broadcasting, Miller Kaplan and Neuhoff Communications.

Below is the list of winning spots. To listen to all the work awarded at tonight’s event, click here. For an on-demand viewing of the event, click here.

Creative Radio Campaign: Agency/Production Company/Advertiser/Radio Station or Group

 

Barbershop Quartet
Progressive Insurance
Arnold Worldwide

 

Motel 6 2020 Radio Campaign
Motel 6
The Richards Group

 

Creative Radio Spot for a Cause: Agency/Production Company/Advertiser

 

How to Play Soccer
The Aspen Institute’s Project Play
Arnold Worldwide

 

Creative Radio Spot: Agency/Production Company/Advertiser

 

Snickers “Commercial Free”
Mars Chocolate North America
BBDO NY

 

Car Dealership
Postmates
Mother LA

 

Creative Radio Spot: Insightful Voice

 

Meemaw
Motel 6
Barkley

 

Creative Radio Spot: Radio Station or Group

 

Disco Colonoscopy
Kansas Medical Clinic
Alpha Media

 

BALLWASH.COM VALENTINE’S DAY 2020
Ballsy
CUMULUS MEDIA Atlanta

 

Creative Spot for a Cause: Radio Station or Group

 

Black Voices of Humboldt County #2
In-House PSA
Lost Coast Communications, Inc.

 

Creative Use of Nonbroadcast Audio

 

Bedtime Stories
Walmart
FCB Chicago

Radio Recliner
Bridge Senior Living
Luckie

 

Creative Use of Songs/Music (Original or Repurposed)

Chinchilla
Absolute Roofing
The Studio at iHeartMedia

 

Integrated Brand Campaign with Radio/Audio

 

When All You Can Food Is Think About
Postmates
Mother LA

 

Purpose-Driven Spot or Campaign: Agency/Production Company/Advertiser/Radio Station or Group

 

Bingo Recovery
Northstar Problem Gambling Alliance
Preston Spire

 

Radio Station or Group Promotional Spot or Campaign

 

Black Excellence
In-House Campaign
iHeartMedia

 

In early July, a special group of low-power television station permits were put up for sale by a Texas-based company that didn’t wish to build them by their rather unique deadline of 2023.

Several buyers stepped forward, and now one of them — a 50/50 partnership between Steven Rubin and Lauren Malek, has completed its deal.

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NEW YORK — There’s a new leader that will oversee the production and business affairs teams for Walt Disney Television’s expansive portfolio of content brands, including Hulu Originals, Onyx Collective, ABC Entertainment and Freeform, along with production companies ABC Signature and 20th Television.

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NEW YORK — From social justice initiatives that led General Motors to look within to best reflect the multicultural America of today to a rebuke of “total market” initiatives that swept across the U.S. advertising and marketing world a decade ago, the COVID-19 pandemic “reset everyone’s expectations,” American Urban Radio Networks CEO Chesley Maddox-Dorsey believes.

The comment was made at the start of a Forecast 2022 session. As the moderator of a roundtable discussion featuring General Motors Global Chief Marketing Officer Deborah Wahl and dentsu Americas Chief Product Officer for Global Media Doug Ray, Maddox-Dorsey seamlessly directed a Forecast 2022 session devoted to a topic that had the capacity crowd seated, silent and listening intently to the conversation.

With Diversity, Equity and Inclusion fueling what Wahl and Ray had to say, Wahl noted that the pandemic – and events tied to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis – fueled a “new desire for engagement and connection.”

Wahl continued, “As companies, we saw a new thirst for connecting as a company. Companies had to show up, in a very different way. Meanwhile, “big tentpole events” including the Super Bowl and World Series have “plunged” in terms of their effectiveness, Wahl added.

This led Wahl and her team at GM to review all of its marketing efforts. “At GM we are meeting people on a totally different way, meeting people in all levels of the marketing ecosystem in a more personal way,” she said.

Meanwhile, chip shortages and supply chain issues wreaked havoc with the product Wahl and her team had been tasked to market in a new engaging way. As such, “there will be a crazy, wild year for the next two to three years for automotive,” she said.

Ray took a moment to illustrate the big challenge for Radio, which has traditionally been fueled by automotive advertising. While more category diversity is helping some companies, a reliance on auto dollars punished Audacy Inc. in the third quarter of 2021.
In Ray’s view, radio advertising dollars will grow by 2% in 2022. Here’s the rub: digital is expected to grow by another 11% in 2022 on top of a huge 2021. And, radio’s growth is driven by streaming and podcasting, Ray said.

Thus, Wahl concluded, connecting authentically with the consumer – something lost through total market planning that treated every impression and GRP as “equal” – is more important than ever.

Where is the revenue heading for terrestrial radio? That question was the first to be answered by a Forecast 2022 panel moderated by noted media ecologist Jack Myers, of Media Village.

Yes, there are 22 states that have executed and authorized sports betting, with New York ready to go in 2022, making the category “enormous” for Radio, said Katz Media Group CEO Mark Gray.

That said, retail and financial services, along with auto insurance, are categories that are growing at spot radio. Growth in CPG is also strong, in the 10%-15% range, Gray said.

The move to audio from television for CPG brands was particularly noteworthy for Gray and for Jen Soch, executive director of specialty channels for GroupM.

The comments came after Gray offered a review of how 2019 was compared to the prior year. In 2018 political dollars drove the radio industry revenues. A year later was “pretty good,” with respect to non-political growth trends.

Then, the pandemic came. “Radio probably got hit the hardest when the pandemic hit, and radio got hit hard, and fast,” he said. But, radio has been chipping back every quarter, Gray said.

The return to 2019 levels has been slower for radio than for television because of what Gray sees as a perception problem. Usage was down, marketers believed, as quarantines and work-from-home patterns persisted. The result: television viewing went up, and advertisers responded.

Now that audio usage is increasing, Gray believes 2021 will end up “somewhere around -11% and -12%” compared to 2019 spot levels.

How soon can we get back to 2019 in 2022? “Radio is not done coming back – and probably can be up 5%-6% ex political in 2022,” Gray said.

Every year political is growing, and Soch is predicting “a bigger year than anyone has ever seen before,” with $8 billion-$10 billion expected in 2022, bigger than the $7 million seen in 2018.

“You and who you are make the difference when you speak.”

That’s one of the key takeaways from this latest column from “Zoom expert” Rosemary Ravinal, a Miami-based public relations veteran. As she notes, “Your pitch, rate of speech, volume, inflection, articulation, overall vocal variety, and accent are part of the individual tendencies that comprise your natural style.”

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NEW YORK — For the first time in its 18-year history, Forecast 2022 offered attendees an exclusive series of conversations, candid discussions and in-the-room only talk that encompassed both the radio and television industries. And, welcoming broadcast TV leaders to Forecast was welcomed across the board — in particular by Borrell Associates CEO Gordon Borrell, who moderated an event-closing “Super Session” with a capacity, standing room only crowd in attendance.

“I’m really happy and pleased to see radio and TV come together for the first time,” Borrell said at the start of the highly anticipated session.

Borrell asked several questions, starting with 2022 revenue projections and any trends that are unfolding for the next year. Answering the question first: Bill Wilson, CEO of Townsquare Media, which has become a digital-first company revenue-wise thanks to its Townsquare Ignite and Townsquare Interactive operations. Getting back to 2019 levels is there, and peers are on their way. He expects strong mid-single-digit growth off of 2019 next year, in particular for radio revenue at Townsquare.

For The E.W. Scripps Co.’s President of Local Media Brian Lawlor, “we had a big year this year,” adding that the broadcast TV stations it owns saw core categories “bounce back really strong.” Reiterating comments made on the company’s Q3 earnings call, 12 of the top 13 ad categories were all up year-over-year. The one that was down? To no surprise, it is Automotive, “for all of the reasons we know.”

The conversation then weaved back to radio — and eSports, as Beasley Media Group CEO Caroline Beasley thanked Streamline Publishing President/Publisher Deborah Parenti for holding Forecast 2022 in person. Addressing Parenti, Caroline Beasley said, “It really shows your courage and your insightfulness,” leading the crowd to applaud.

Caroline Beasley then picked up where Lawlor and Wilson had said regarding 2022 trends, noting that Beasley Media Group is in larger markets than Townsquare and, as such, local and national spot aren’t anticipated to be higher in 2022 versus 2019 just yet. That said, overall revenue will exceed 2019 revenues at the company.

Rounding out the panel is Forecast 2022 co-chair Deborah OConnell, President of Networks for Disney Media & Entertainment; Wilson also co-chaired the event this year. OConnell congratulated Parenti on a great day of sessions before sharing comments that largely mirrored that of Lawlor. “We’ve already come back when you think about local broadcasting and television,” she said. “TV had a quicker turn than radio in coming back from the pandemic and look to 2022 as being a really strong year.”

With 2019 a benchmark for broadcast media, Lawlor agreed with Wilson in noting that, if one thing changed during the pandemic that could be viewed as a positive, “We got off our reliance of our regular business. Automotive? We lived off Automotive being 25% to 30% of our business for decades and all of a sudden Automotive is gone. Our biggest core businesses were gone. You had to reimagine everything and, for our 800 sellers, it meant doubling down our business on local and on developmental opportunities. That absolutely changed our trajectory.”

Additionally, “a record” level of business development and new dollars have come as sellers have been told not to come to work and not to see clients, as the COVID-19 pandemic shifted work to the home and to virtual audio and/or video conversations.

In OConnell’s view, the biggest change from the pandemic was ABC Owned Stations’ audience growth, with consumers “realizing how important local media was, and how we were the only connection point for some people during lockdown to anyone outside of their daily lives or for those who are by themselves. Our audience changed, which makes advertisers understand the importance of local much more today than they did in 2019. It is hard to speak with a client who doesn’t understand the power of local [television] today.

 

NEW YORK — What are you buying here? Not what you think!

Those were the ominous words of MoffettNathanson Senior Analyst Michael Nathanson, who picked apart Roku — positioned as a key player in the Connected TV and Advertising-based Video On Demand (AVOD) space.

“In digging through the latest 10-Q, the signs of slowing revenue growth are even more obvious and have forced us to review our long-term assumptions,” Nathanson said. As such, he downgraded Roku shares, and slashed its target price by 20%.

Investors immediately reacted with the Opening Bell on Wall Street.

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