Industry News

WWO: Audio is Optimal for Movie Releases and Streaming Subs

The latest blog from Cumulus Media | Westwood One’s Audio Active Group looks at the value of audio marketing for movie theatrical releases and streaming video subscriptions. Using data from five separate studies, the report comes to a number of conclusions, including 1) Audio listeners areimg voracious consumers of movies in the theater and films on streaming services. They are first to see a movie in the theater on opening weekend and when films debut on streaming services; and 2) Versus linear TV viewers, audio listeners are far more likely to see movies in the theater and indicate a greater willingness to watch content. Looking at data about marketing moves and streaming video, the study finds that 1) Linear TV advertising spend for theatrical releases and video streaming brands is 30X audio. Despite this, TV viewers show low awareness of new films and low interest in upcoming films and streaming service subscriptions; and 2) Audio (AM/FM radio, streaming audio, and podcasts) should become a much greater allocation in the entertainment marketing media plan. Reallocating 20% of linear TV theatrical and streaming video media plans to AM/FM radio doubles campaign reach with no additional cost. See the full blog post here.

Industry News

iHeartMedia Publishes the State of Podcasting 2023

This report from iHeartMedia looks into determining where the audiences for podcasts are coming from. The company says of the State of Podcasting study: “Aside from reach, time spent listening to podcasts is up 2x in the past five years with the number of Black and Hispanic listeners jumping 30% in the past two years. Weim wanted to see where the listenership was coming from and based on the research it looks like Americans are making more time for podcasts mostly by reducing time spent with streaming video, streaming music and social media. Video podcasts have been a big discussion lately in the industry – whether its needed and cost effective, which is interesting because this new data sample showed that podcasts are pulling listener share primarily from YouTube’s audience – a reasonable motivation for their heightened focus on video podcasting to drive retention.” Interestingly, the study also concluded that the majority of radio listening happens out-of-home (68%), while the majority of podcast listening happens in the home (69%).