Podzinger Unleashed! Examining the Second Exodus of Traditional Media
“A year and a half ago, there were people that would say there’s podcasts and then there’s audio and video,” PodZinger president Alex Laats tells ADOTAS. “I think now the world of podcasting and audio and video online is really blurring.”
WEEI had struggled with putting content online in streaming Windows Media and RealMedia formats, but found them unpopular and stopped bothering with them until PodZinger demoed their search product for them. Ben Kulis, WEEI’s digital marketing manager, immediately saw the value to be gained from a searchable archive of online content.
WEEI’s most popular show segment, the Whiner Line, lets listeners call in and leave snarky voicemail messages about WEEI hosts, sports teams, local celebrities and politicians. Unfortunately, the segment airs at 5:45pm, a time when most people are either at work or driving home. Having that segment searchable online means that listeners can tune in even if they missed the broadcast. “We’ve jumped up to 5000 searches a day at times,” says Kulis. “People are calling up and saying they’re so thankful to have the ability to go back and actually hear today’s Whiner Line, or actually go back the last couple of weeks and listen to the ones that they might’ve missed.”
It’s an incredible opportunity for advertisers, who can now reach Boston fans around the globe. Searchable archived content also lets listeners reflect on what a commentator said before a particular game, or even speculations they made before an entire season.
“I’ve seen it across not only my own company, but also the Clear Channels, the Infinities, everyone’s making this huge push towards interactive,” adds Kulis, who then compared the online migration of radio to the Boston Globe’s move online with Boston.com.
For PodZinger, the source media is largely irrelevant. Once a piece of audio or video goes into their index, it comes out again by way of an RSS feed, a system that lets users not only subscribe, but also listen to a program starting from the moment a particular search term was spoken. “It wasn’t a podcast before. Does that mean it’s a podcast now?” Laats muses. “I don’t know. It’s just online audio.”
The Podzinger pres also sees a gradual migration of ad dollars from broadcast to online. Last month, PodZinger launched its ad platform, which places graphic and video banners next to search results and plays video ads in the PodZinger player for media providers who have opted in to the program. For WEEI, online gives the terrestrial sports radio station a global reach and the ability to time-shift content for the benefit of both Boston sports fans and advertisers.
For Ben Kulis, moving radio online is relatively simple, since he can see the path taken by print publications. The hard part is letting customers know that online audio offers something new and different from print. Services like PodZinger help radio stations separate themselves not only from the print media online, but also from the idea of the terrestrial radio station itself.
According to Alex Laats, Revolution Number 2 is inevitable. “The best content will be monetized across TV, radio, and online,” he said. “Those people with the best content should be aggressive about moving to be in all places with an advertiser supported model. People that don’t have great content will not survive.”
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