The shift in digital listening
It’s almost impossible to watch every minute of the typical NFL game. Between penalties and commercial breaks, what should take an hour typically runs almost 3 hours, or more. Same for baseball, college football, and almost every other sport.
For that matter, it’s getting harder to sit through network TV shows because of the sheer volume of commercials, which is why more and more of us watch it on our DVR and use the handy skip button on our remote controls to avoid the spots.
I understand that. NPR has programs — content — that is unique and proprietary, content valuable enough to listeners to seek when they have time to listen.
Many people listen to Howard Stern this way.
My question is, what content does your station offer that listeners would find valuable enough to listen to once they reach their office, or in the evenings, at home?
This is the real issue facing radio.
We’re doing fine in drive-times with in-car listening. Not so much when it comes to proprietary content worth hearing once we’re out of our cars.
This is where we should focus our attention and resources and this is all about talent.
Radio couldn’t have picked a worse time to fire expensive entertainers and replace them with voice-tracking numbness.
The good news is, it’s not too late to fix this because we still have an amazing reach.
Who’s going to step up and put real, compelling talent on every daypart, talent good enough to warrant on-demand listening when it’s most convenient for listeners?