Specialist
Senior executive at MBMC Media
Agenda
- Ad spend trends across terrestrial, digital and satellite channels
- Pricing dynamics and contract structures across major providers
- Comparing return on radio ad spend to other advertising venues
Questions
1.
What’s your high-level view of the radio business? What should investors be paying attention to?
2.
When allocating ad dollars to radio, how is your buying decision determined across terrestrial, digital and satellite? How do those outlets stack up relative to one another?
3.
How are other ad buyers allocating their dollars? Can you put any figures on the growth or decline of various channels?
4.
Are there particular ad categories that are stronger or weaker coming out of Q1 and heading into Q2?
5.
With the merger of Entercom and CBS, there are essentially three major terrestrial operators: Entercom, iHeart and Cumulus. How do the three compare from an ad buyer’s perspective?
6.
What are the sources of growth in pricing? How could radio operators command more out of ad buyers?
7.
With the rise of digital, how has the value proposition of radio evolved over time from an ad buyer’s perspective?
8.
Do you have a sense of how unit economics in terrestrial stack up against digital?
9.
Terrestrial operators continue to claim that traditional broadcast has reach into 93% of the US population, declining as you go down in age. How would you expect that to change as the connected car becomes a reality?
10.
How does the return on ad spend you’re getting from terrestrial compare to other advertising outlets?
11.
Are you able to quantify the return that ad buyers are getting, either by operator or by market?
12.
Which terrestrial outlets were most productive, looking back over Q1? Which are generating that return and directing your optimisation efforts?
13.
Where should radio operators invest to become more attractive to ad buyers? Is it simply a matter of programming and reach to generate ratings?
14.
Does the push of legacy terrestrial operators like iHeart into digital impact ad buying decisions? Or are these viewed as separate matters?
15.
When it comes to the core strengths of digital, the narrow targeting and attribution that it offers, can a traditional operator like iHeart ever compete with the digital natives like Pandora or Spotify?
16.
I would think that the cross-platform play is attractive to any of the legacy terrestrial operators. What is preventing a faster push into digital?
17.
How do the prices that you’re able to get from programmatic compare to traditional terrestrial ad sales?
18.
Can you comment on the prevalence of barter in terrestrial and digital radio? How do you evaluate the future of the practice?
19.
How might the barter practice affect the value of ad inventory?
20.
Is barter any less prevalent in TV than it is in radio?
21.
Have the bankruptcies of Cumulus and iHeart affected ad buyers’ confidence in radio in any way?
22.
We’ve got another political cycle ramping up. What is your outlook for the radio business as the 2020 election approaches?
23.
Is there anything commonly misunderstood about the advertising business by the investment community?
