Month: October 2023

Russia has detained Alsu Kurmasheva, a Prague-based editor at US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).Kurmasheva, 47, holds both US and Russian passports and works for RFE/RL’s Tatar-Bashkir service. She travelled to Russia on May 20 for a family emergency. She was temporarily detained on June 2 and arrested again on Wednesday, October 18.She has been charged with not registering as a ‘foreign agent,’ according to RFE/RL. If proven guilty, she could face up to five years in prison.

She is the second western reporter to be jailed on spy charges in Russia in the last seven months. Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested for alleged spying in March. Since then, he has appeared in court several times since and unsuccessfully appealed his detention.“Kurmasheva is an accomplished journalist who has long covered ethnic minority communities in Tatarstan and Bashkortostan in the Volga-Ural region of Russia,” RFE/RL said.“She has reported on initiatives to protect and preserve the Tatar language and culture from Russian authorities, who have exerted increased pressure on Tatars in recent years.”The Committee to Protect Journalists said: “CPJ is deeply concerned by the detention of U.S-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva on spurious criminal charges and calls on Russian authorities to release her immediately and drop all charges against her,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Journalism is not a crime and Kurmasheva’s detention is yet more proof that Russia is determined to stifle independent reporting.”Photo: YouTube […]

By Edison ResearchThis post is from Edison’s Weekly Insights email.  Please click here if you would like to subscribe.
Choices, choices. The in-car audio landscape today offers myriad options, including radio receivers, satellite radio receivers, voice-activated speakers, and Bluetooth or aux cord capabilities that allow for listening to smartphones and other content. Increasingly, vehicles are equipped with smartphone-based infotainment systems Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and consumers are moving towards a seamless phone-to-audio experience.
How does the presence of these systems affect the time spent consuming audio in-car?

This week’s insight comes from Edison Research’s Share of Ear dataset, which is based on a one-day listening diary and measures the amount of time those in the U.S. age 13+ spend with all audio. Respondents also answer some demographic and consumer questions, including the presence of audio infotainment in-car systems in the primary vehicle in which they drive or ride.
The graphic below compares the in-car daily audio time for those who don’t have Apple CarPlay or Android Audio in the primary vehicle they drive or ride in, versus those who do have one of the systems.

The top bar shows that among listeners who don’t have Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, they spend the majority of their in-car audio time, 67%, listening to AM/FM radio, including over-the-air and streams. They spend 9% of their audio time streaming, 12% with SiriusXM, 4% with Podcasts, and 8% of their audio time with some other audio source, such as CDs.
The bottom bar shows that those who do have Apple CarPlay or Android Auto in their primary vehicles spend twice as much time streaming: 18% of their daily in-car audio time is spent streaming, compared with 9% of daily in-car audio time spent streaming by those without the systems. They also spend more of their daily in-car audio time with podcasts than listeners who don’t have the systems: 7% compared with 4%.
Listeners who do have Apple CarPlay or Android Auto spend 46% of their time with AM/FM — 27% less than those who don’t have CarPlay or Auto.

Even those with these systems choose AM/FM for nearly half of their in-car listening. For many people, even with so many new options, radio and the in-car environment continue to just go together. […]

By Jamie Wood February 14, 2014, marks the day I touched down at Adelaide Airport, ready to dive headfirst into an incredible career opportunity as the sales director for the leading radio station in the market. I was a fresh-faced 27-year-old with big ambitions and even bigger challenges ahead.As I stepped into the role, I quickly realized that despite our station’s dominance in the ratings, the city of churches was a unique market set to throw some major headwinds my way!

The Hurdles.First off, Adelaide was birthplace of two of Australia’s top three FM networks. These competitors had a “head office feel” about them, loaded with resources and backed by national executives right there in the local market, An intimidating competitive set by any measure.Secondly, the economic landscape in Adelaide was grim. Key industries like manufacturing and auto were in sharp decline, resulting in soaring unemployment rates. From an advertising standpoint, we were left with all networks aggressively vying for finite revenue opportunity.But perhaps the most challenging was our station’s pricing. Despite our leading ratings position, we were priced at a 20% to 40% premium on the market and had plenty of national demand putting pressure on our fill rates.It was clear that if we were going to change our fortunes, we needed a radically different plan.  Here’s the 3 major strategic initiatives we deployed.

Differentiate like hell. In a highly commoditised market where vanity metrics like “number of spots” and buying metrics like “reach and frequency” dominated, we doubled down on audience quality.  We made it our mantra that “not all audiences are created equal.” In every sales pitch, brief, ratings discussion, and piece of marketing material, we drove home the point that our audience wasn’t just big; they were big spenders. We showcased their income, spending habits, and the purchases tied to their life stages. In a tough economy, this message struck a chord with advertisers eager to make every dollar count. Sacrifice the small. Rather than chasing after every radio dollar, we set our sights on clients with a high price tolerance. Our target: the top 25 advertisers across all media. We traded the hard sell for a consultative approach. We listened, learned about their long-term challenges and objectives, and then presented proactive solutions that went beyond quick fixes. Yes, it was a patient game, and we weathered some rough revenue months, but our laser focus on the market’s biggest spenders set us apart from the competition, promising substantial dividends down the road. Optimise the inventory. Our premium pricing was largely driven by the high demand from interstate bookings. After a huge audit, we uncovered a treasure trove of remnant inventory and lower-demand sessions that we could offer as value-add or at significant discounts. We got programming on board and asked for exclusive on-air features and benchmarks tailored specifically for local clients. Through clever scheduling and inventive packaging, clients could unlock high-reaching media plans, blending premium inventory with strategic value-adds and seamless integration. Forget individual spot rates; the real magic lay in the overall value equation. So what? These were undoubtedly some of the most trying years of my career, humbling in many ways. However, after two years of embracing these strategies, we delivered revenue growth of 24.5% in a declining market and clinched the Australian Commercial Radio award for the best metro sales team too.To anyone out there facing seemingly insurmountable odds, here’s the takeaway: when the rules of the game aren’t stacked in your favour, create a new game that you can win.About the AuthorJamie Wood is the Global Sales Director of Boost Media International, Boost provides revenue solutions and advisory services to media companies globally.  Jamie also hosts Media Sales Mastery a top rated podcast showcasing best practice from some of the industry’s top thought-leaders.    […]