CMDC Media Digest, 2015-2016

106 Media Channels CANADIAN MEDIA DIRECTORS COUNCIL AUDIO to the marketplace will evolve as it has since television launched In fact evolution will now be more important than ever to its continued health How it stays relevant to and connects with millennials is going to be its biggest challenge and opportunity In the U S radio budgets are being proportioned to include online audio streams and programmatic purchasing There what used to be funded by three separate streams is now often being funded by what was once the sole territory of radio While there is pressure for that audio model of online and on air to be adopted north of the U S border Canada is not yet in a position for that to happen Radio campaigns are still purchased on demographic rating points defined by and targeted to specific geographies That level of granularity and audience data is not yet available here and will be the hurdle that the online audio streams will have to overcome before they can compete for radio dollars That said there is every expectation that will occur in the next couple of years The simplest way for online streams to compete for radio dollars would be for the online providers to become members of Numeris and encode their streams The required level of audience data would then be able to be provided in the PPM measured markets at which time online streams could compete for audio funds alongside radio That may occur far sooner and affect radio campaigns far faster than radio believes it will happen Programmatic radio buying is still pending in Canada blunter instrument that provides quarter hour audience levels While the PPM is technically capable of picking up any audio signal from any device the long tail of audio listening makes panel measurement via PPM impractical Add to that the complexity of encoding every station that Canadians listen to offline and online and this measurement approach is not feasible To get a proper representation of the audio listening universe the industry will require measurement from several angles including panel measurement listener surveys and streaming data Numeris is actively exploring all measurement methodologies through their newly formed Innovation Lab Personalized audio services will also need to become more accountable for providing demographic and lifestyle data for their listeners as advertising opportunities on these platforms grow As listening options for Canadians morph our measurement approaches will have to adapt to keep pace Radio Futures Prognostications Consumers are expected to increase their familiarity and usage of online audio and continue to incorporate it into the daily media habits In this Wild West environment where multiple operators are attempting to stake their claim to eyes and ears there is wealth of options available As they are sampled and loyalties develop some will fall by the wayside and dominant operators will arise And advertisers will want to be where the listeners are Radio will continue to have a significant presence in consumers lives How it is programmed and presented RADIO IS RELEVANT EFFECTIVE AND POWERFUL Radio offers advertisers a number of benefits PPM measurement has demonstrated that it is both a reach and a frequency medium In a broadcast environment where many television stations are regional provincial or national in their reach radio remains a truly local medium It can be purchased by demographic and can be targeted psychographically by selecting the appropriate formats Radio is immediate and close to the point of purchase It costs less too On a market by market basis radio costs far less than television Creative production costs are far lower than for TV too and in many cases are negligible especially if the stations purchased produce the commercials Because creative is inexpensive multiple executions and time sensitive spots can be scheduled In short it works and many top category marketers retail professional services etc have built their business through using radio as their main advertising platform Radio Measurement in Canada Canada is in a very good position to keep track of traditional radio listening with one of the strongest audio measurement systems in the world The Numeris PPM is carried by a panel of Canadians in major markets across the country and passively monitors their local radio listening throughout the day Marketers agencies and programmers can analyze local radio listening patterns on a minute by minute basis Local smaller markets are measured via diary methodology a