I just returned from the Radio Advertising Bureau Conference in Orlando, and you wouldn’t know from the crowd that radio advertising is suffering any pain. Unlike last week’s Newspaper Association of America Conference in Las Vegas, this one was well attended and upbeat. Even vibrant.
Still, I’m not sure most radio folks “get it” when it comes to the Internet. A few have learned an amazing secret — that radio advertising and promotions hold the key to wild spikes in Internet traffic — and are building up new product lines rather than CallLetter.com sites with banners program guides. Startling statistic: 62% of radio listeners have turned to the Web and conducted a search as a result of hearing something on the radio. I haven’t seen anything near this for newspapers, yellow pages, or TV. Pretty powerful stuff, if you ask me…though I know of only two companies and a whopping total of four individuals who a) get it and b) are leveraging that power into a new Web-based business.
Sounds like a big opportunity to me.
