Radio is embracing new technology faster than newspaper and magazine publishers.
Podcasting, barely a year old, has already been boldly embraced by radio companies and advertisers. In no time at all they have understood and seized the opportunity and created commercial offerings which extend existing business models. Not only stations, people brands Dr Laura Schlessigner and Rush Limbaugh are in the podcast world push their views to the mobile and tech savvy.
Newspaper and magazine publishers, on the other hand, continue to struggle with the intersection of the growing citizen journalism movement (blogging, podcasting etc), we media (the daily me as opposed to the daily newspaper), mobile technology and more accessible and faster broadband. Some are dabbling, few are truly embracing the opportunity. Further, the news and information supply chain seems to be at a loss as to how to respond or even wondering if they need to respond.
Radio stations across the globe are showing how a traditional media company can embrace technology to enhance their brand and do to so in partnership with advertisers.
The differences between radio and print are that radio is not as old as print, it does not have the supply chain to deal with, it does not have the capital infrastructure in traditional product and it’s already used to mobile access.
The article, PODCASTING RAPIDLY EMERGING AS RADIO BUSINESS EXTENSION, the latest issue of Advertising Age demonstrates how advertisers and radio stations are embracing the opportunity and how legitimate podcasting has become in such a short time.
Podcasting is takes all media players into undefined space. It’s opened a new marketplace and blurred the lines between media players. It is another reason why the media ownership laws in several countries need urgent overhaul. Podcasting also increases competition between, say, newspapers and radio. Whereas in the old world their lines of delivery were more clearly defined, today the story is the thing.
Newspaper and magazine publishers and their supply chain partners need play catch up and aggressively play in the mobile space – if only to help see the road ahead for their businesses.