‘The Book’
Attaturk and David Atkins have joined on the celebration of ‘the fall of Rush’, but they need to look closer, as this is the fall of a network, Cumulus, not just one of their ‘voices’.
‘The Book’ looms large in this based on comments by Cumulus that the big agencies and media buyers, have dropped them as a vendor. That isn’t just about Rush, that is the entire line-up.
‘The Book’ is the ratings book put out primarily by Arbitron in the radio market. A ‘good Book’ is worth a lot of money to station owners and will be a feature of salary negotiations. It means that the ad prices will rise, and more advertisers will buy. A ‘bad Book’ can result in a blood bath, and possibly format change. If you wonder why your favorite rock station is now sports talk, it is because of ‘The Book’.
These days your audience share might hold steady or even increase, but if your listeners aren’t in the advertiser preferred group, you will not get ads. There was a local station that catered to the ‘Greatest Generation’ with music from the Swing era, and features for seniors. It had a solid, and loyal listener base. One day it switched to talk radio without warning. Advertisers didn’t want the station’s listeners.
Protests affected Rush’s advertisers, but Cumulus’s problems are demographic, so its stations will start switching their format to stay in existence.
May 10, 2013 2 Comments
Friday Cat Blogging
Froggie Goes A-Napping
Now what?
[Editor: Froggie interrupts her nap in the sun to eye me suspiciously.]
May 10, 2013 2 Comments
