Local and regional advertising inventory could already be distributed electronically today. On online booking platforms, nationwide or even worldwide. Digitally in the media mix or exclusively for radio/audio advertising. Technologically, this is not rocket science and we are working on it intensively.
Permanent more advertising inventory to market by having the offering meet a huge national or even global demand electronically, simply and quickly, that is one thing. The other: more money to achieve this! By electronically enriching the inventory with a variety of advertising-relevant data, thereby improving its quality. Yes, we are talking about higher CPMs and not lower ones, as some fear.
By that, I don't just mean general media data about reach, listener demographics, and usage behaviour, etc. but also valuable local and regional additional information, such as the programming environment, festivals, or other local events that advertisements can refer to. Even daily or hourly current events such as the weather, the outcome of a local derby, or the current traffic situation can be used electronically for tailor-made advertising spots. In real time and, of course, fully automatically.
It's obvious that accordingly „boosted“ advertising inventory can be sold at a higher price. In the best-case scenario, radio publishers can even earn more money with less advertising through data-driven advertising – benefiting their programming and presumably pleasing their listeners.
Also the better the advertising inventory is equipped with relevant additional data, the more precisely advertising can be placed and the more expensively the inventory can be sold.
The necessary software solutions already exist and are being successfully used in Switzerland, for example. On several channels, different ad slots for one and the same product are exchanged fully automatically, depending, for example, on the weather, sports results, or Google trends. This is a new technology and a new business model that could be implemented immediately in Germany, for both the national and local and regional advertising markets.
However, if in the near future countless providers are competing for advertisers' budgets on digital audio marketplaces, the quality of the inventory will be even more crucial for success. I like to compare a nationwide or even global booking platform to a grand ballroom. Anyone who goes there must dress up for a celebration, adorning themselves with their most valuable jewels to stand out from the crowd. In our case, this means using as much locally and regionally relevant advertising data as possible that can be made available electronically.
Naturally, even the best inventory is useless, as are the most popular broadcasts and the best advertising slots, if the advert itself is poor. And, with all due respect, there are unfortunately far too many abysmal, monotonous radio adverts. In my opinion, the image of the entire industry suffers as a result.
This brings me to the topic of content quality, not (just) concerning the radio publishers' programme, but the advertising. If I may, I'd like to champion more quality in audio advertising and content production.
And for campaign flexibility, very much in the spirit of programmatic and data-driven advertising. The digital sector is showing us how it's done. They impressively demonstrate that increased production doesn't necessarily have to go hand in hand with higher costs, but can also be achieved through more efficient, decentralised, specialised and automated production. This will become all the more important as more ad spots than before are needed for precise advertising tailored to current events.
Let's take a car manufacturer advertising a new model, for example. In bright sunshine, it would automatically broadcast a spot for the convertible version, for instance, before holidays in a particular German state, a spot for an estate car, and in cold weather, a spot for the standard model. However, in total, three spots would have to be produced instead of one. These spots could then be further differentiated, for example, by recording them with different dialects for different regions and/or with references to different local dealerships, etc., which would then also be broadcast automatically in the respective correct broadcast area.
It is understandable that these increasingly complex processes – both in terms of production and distribution and broadcasting – can no longer be handled manually. Such spots not only need to be distributed automatically, but also produced „automatically,“ i.e., with electronic support, decentrally, and networked.
For this, we need tools that enable us to produce the same spot in many variations within a network, for example, consisting of a speaker from Vienna with an Austrian dialect, a speaker from Hamburg or Kiel with a North German dialect, and many other participants, from sound engineering to final editing. The same product, produced quickly and flexibly, in high audio quality. That is the advantage of radio.
I fear that if radio forgets its strength – and by that I mean the strength with which the medium was founded 100 years ago, namely content and quality – then radio could indeed perish. If, on the other hand, it consciously uses its strength, focusing on quality in contrast to the arbitrariness of many streaming services, then radio has a great future. I am firmly convinced of this.
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