It's All Local

I heard a public radio fundraiser talk about their investment in local programming and how most stations don't usually invest that much in resources. My thought...It only matters if the content matters.

A Personal Medium

More than once I've heard that radio is a personal medium. It's true. I choose to listen because the content matches my lifestyle and values.  The closer the content comes to this match, the more engaged I become. By extension, everything that comes out of speakers and headphones is local. And, this includes content on new platforms including social media.

Local or National?

It does not matter. As a listener the content and how the content is presented matters. So, when the person fundraising tells me that his or her NPR station invests a lot of time and resources on local content, I really don't care. He or she might care because he or she works there and has a lot invested in the success of the content. It's an inside argument that does not relate to my experience as a listener.

My Choice

As a listener, I decide what is important. It is my core values that are being served. And, if the content provided matches those values on a consistent basis, I am more likely to support the provider. It could be Morning Edition, On-Point, Colin McEnroe or Wait, Wait, it's all local to me.

Is video the new radio star?

Inside Radio posted an article today about the importance of Video on a radio station's website. The article focuses on data gathered by comScore.

A new report from comScore shows that’s a smart strategy. The U.S. online video market attracts an average of 75 million viewers every day.  And content providers are doing a better job of monetizing those views. The gap between the number of video ad views and content views is narrowing, comScore data shows. The percentage of videos accompanied by a video ad jumped from just 14% in 2011 to nearly 23% in 2012.

Some public radio stations are on-board with this. Back in 2006 we did some early dabbling in video for radio at WNPR. We recorded and posted  the Steve Davis Quintet at Sweet Jane's in Hartford. It now has over 7000 views. WNPR's offerings are much more robust. WNPRVideo's Channel has 32 videos. The most watched is Kate Callahan and Two Doors with over 12,000 views.

WUMB919 (I had a cup of coffee with this station.) has 37 videos. Most of the views are in the 100's. The most recent video was posted about nine months ago.

WNYC has over 1500 videos. WNYC's Street Shots: Bruce Gilden, was posted about four years ago. It's a good example of the long tail of appealing on-line postings with over 600,000 views.

There are many more videos cross linked to each of these stations. An example of that cross linkage are videos posted by Colin McEnroe and the Real Life Survival Guide.

Still not convinced? YouTube is the second most utilized search engine behind Google. The platform is a must for your content.  A robust video strategy is going to bring more visitors to your station's website and will make more users aware of your content and your station.

And finally...According to the article from Inside Radio, advertisers (underwriters) are willing to pay higher cost per thousand rates for on-line video content and ads.