From Broadcast Radio to Holistic Audio: How to Increase Revenue Through Live and On-Demand Digital Streaming

It's an indisputable fact that digital audio is the primary driver of growth among listening audiences. According to a recent RAB report, digital revenue grew 25% for local radio stations in 2019 and is expected to increase by 29% in 2020. But those stations are still missing out on significant revenue opportunities. Of the 73% of stations who produce a podcast, only half are selling advertising on those podcasts.

Setting aside the fact that 50% of stations with podcasts aren't monetizing them at all, there is a full 27% of stations who don't produce a single podcast, despite already having studio facilities and on-air talent available. That includes both those who don't produce any podcast-first programming, as well as those who don't convert linear broadcast to digital live stream, or live streamed programming into podcasts for on-demand listening. That's a lot of money being left on the table.

If you don't believe us, here are a few more interesting numbers from the 2020 Infinite Dial Report that might help convince you:

60% of Americans listen to audio online every week - that's an estimated 169 million people

The average amount of time those weekly listeners spend listening to audio online is 15 hours

27% of US households own a smart speaker, up from just 7% in 2017

Over one-third of smart speaker owners have three or more devices in their homes

Smart speakers are primarily used to access digital audio content, a combination of music and spoken word (news, weather, talk radio, podcasts, etc.)

37% of the US population listened to at least one podcast monthly, up from 32% in 2018 and just 26% in 2017

Clearly, digital audio is THE single largest growth opportunity for audio.

Because there are more ways to access and consume audio content than ever before, it's critical that content producers adopt practices and technology that help them create equivalent value for listeners across all platforms.

Moving from Siloed to Holistic AudioRather than thinking of over-the-air, digital, live stream, and on-demand audio as separate and distinct, producers should be thinking of them as intrinsically related. Advertisers want to buy both live stream and on-demand content, so producers need to be able to easily manage and monetize both, and package them appropriately, across all channels. That means being able to:

Create combined campaigns for streaming and podcast (live stream and on-demand)

Use the same ads/creatives for both

Track progress/measure results side-by-side

As listening patterns evolve, it's more important than ever to package inventory and establish standardized workflows across all channels. To do that, you need the right insights, tools, and processes to manage and monetize inventory for all listeners, however they choose to access your content.

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