Make Way for the New Wave of Radio

A while back I wrote about the use of Radio. I recently read an article on MediaWeek.com about how brands have seen amazing success with streaming radio.

In the article, Esurance, a Web-based auto insurer invited would be movie directors to create a music video riffing off one of 10 dance numbers selected from recent Bollywood films. Esurance needed to reach hard-core Bollywood fans. They had to find a way to reach a highly specific audience while also keeping the appeal broad and national in scope. The answer was Internet radio. According to the company’s media director, Darren Howard, the choice of streaming radio was simple. “We can go to our streaming vendors and find those specific channels that play that type of music and would draw interest in our contest,” he says. “It’s not something you can do on terrestrial radio.”

There is much potential for Internet Radio but there still remains challenges. While the medium has proven itself a worthy buy for national campaigns, for example, Webcasters have yet to make significant inroads into the lucrative local marketplace. Agencies also complain that in a frenzy to deliver sufficient impressions some Webcasters end up annoying listeners by airing the same spot too frequently. Others mislead clients by padding their advertising proposals with international listeners that are not relevant to the buy.