JacoBlog - Jacobs Media's Blog

Microsites = Macro Impact

A burgeoning trend among many web-savvy businesses is to create microsites to help their efforts stand out.  A great example of this in radio is KQRC/Kansas City.  They've built a microsite for their upcoming all-day concert event, Rockfest.  Users have access to resources that include a venue map, ticket info, rules, lodging options, the full line-up, and even a MySpace profile.  In short, everything you need to successfully navigate Rockfest '08.

Other stations have pulled this off, too.  Sites that are specially set up for a "Rock Girls" competition, an at-work program, a major contest, and anything that ought to stand out can be highlighted with a microsite.

Why create a separate URL and go through the time and work to make this happen?  Well, if you've spent any time on most radio station sites, they are often extremely cluttered.  Between the standard info (DJs, shows, features, contests, advertisements, etc.), it is often difficult to find what you're looking for.  As a result, a great event like Rockfest (or a station's major anniversary or big contest) can simply get lost in the web morass.  And a big event deserves the attention that a new URL can offer.

This is happening outside of radio, too.  Last week, we talked about Metallica's new site that tees up their new album.  It's noteworthy that R.E.M. built five microsites around their album Accelerate.  These include:

• remdublin.com (which highlights their Dublin performances)
• ninetynights.com (a countdown site with video clips that fans could edit)
• supernaturalsuperserious.com (an interactive video site with 10 takes of the album's first video single, tied in with YouTube)
• remaccelerate.com (a general site that highlights the album, the tour, links, news)
• iLike.com (the debut of the album on a music social network with links to iTunes and Amazon). 

Maybe that's taking the concept a bit further than most stations would consider, but it's all about building awareness for the band, and showcasing some of their big concepts.

As radio station websites - not to mention their on-air sound - become more cluttered, sponsored, and difficult to navigate, using the infinite inventory of the Internet is a smart way to go in order to make great content stand out in a big way. 

Why "Guitar Hero" Matters

It's just a game, right?  No, Guitar Hero and Rock Band are more than just games.  They capture the fantasy aspect of Rock music that we all have inside us.  From the very first dude who ever played the "air guitar," Rock music lovers have always pretended to be Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, and Jimmy Page - just as baseball fans mimicked the batting styles of Mantle, Aaron, and Big Papi.

And that's where Guitar Hero and Rock Band have filled the void.  In our newest Tech Poll, we found that nearly half of those who play video games have played either of these Rock-based games.  It's a big number, and it transcends age and gender.

But here's the kicker: Of those who have played either or both Guitar Hero or Rock Band, three in ten say they've purchased music that was featured in the games.  That's an incredible stat that says a lot about the role that "new media" plays in music sales, and about the power and influence of these participation games.

American Idol and Activision (the creators of Guitar Hero) pulled off a cool "product placement stunt" by producing a commercial that features their two finalists (the "two Davids") playing a Guitar Hero guitar in a parody spot of the Tom Cruise scene from Risky Business.  The tag line - "Unleash Your Inner Rock Star" - perfectly nails the emotion that these games bring to living rooms all over America.

These games are powerful - not just in their ability to capture the Rock 'n' Roll vibe - but also in their proven capacity to sell music.  And because they celebrate Rock music (at a time when the musical winds are often blowing the other way), we should embrace Guitar Hero and Rock Band as brand extensions that are contributing to fanning the flames of music passion.

"Online Is The New Primetime"

Today's posting title is a quote from Gian Fulgoni, chairman of comScore, and it cleverly sums up how the Internet now exceeds television during the daytime hours.  In fact, a recent New York Times article actually asked the question, "What is primetime?"  That's because 6,000,000 May sweeps viewers have disappeared since last year.

The culprit?  The Control-Variety-Choice architecture of TiVos/DVRs and the Internet, especially due to the growth of network television sites that offer shows like The Office and Lost whenever you want to see it.

We saw this in our Tech Poll IV in a new question that revealed that four of every ten Rockers now have a TiVo or DVR.  The implications of this are obvious if you're in the TV business.  But what if you're in radio?

At what point will "morning drive" not hold its traditional lead over all other dayparts (aside from PPM)?  When will radio have a podcasting model that makes it convenient for fans of morning shows to be able to easily time-shift their listening?  (And keep in mind that if a PPM respondent listens to a podcast within 7 days of its original airdate, it "counts" in the ratings.)

Last week, we blogged about Hulu, and how radio has some of the same time-shifting potential.  As we noted, NPR understands the model only too well.  They average 12 million downloads a month and that's more than 200 million total downloads since they started their podcast program in August 2005.  And of course, that doesn't cover other public broadcasting networks and producers, or the many local public stations that provide podcasts of their content.  The graphic below shows the most downloaded podcasts on iTunes.  Look how public radio dominates:

And the sponsorship dollars keep rolling in.  Another finding from the Tech Poll is that two-thirds of those who have downloaded a podcast are very or somewhat willing to sit through a commercial as the price of admission.

Maybe instead of calling it time-shifting, we ought to start thinking of it as "dollar-shifting."

Backyard Bands

What will kids do this summer when the schools let out next month?  According to Toys 'R' Us, a big trend is "Backyard Bands," spurred on by the success of brilliantly marketed concepts like Disney's Jonas Brothers.

The idea is kids yearn to be Rock stars (thank Reality TV for that), and toy manufacturers are stepping up with a series of DVDs and special instruments so they can learn how to play.  While Rock Band and Guitar Hero are great videogames, actually learning how to play the drums or the guitar is what these cool new toys are all about.  There's the 5-Piece Drum Set from First Act, found only at Toys 'R' Us, the Essential Rock Guitar DVD from Alliance, and the LK-100 keyboard from Casio - just a few of the devices and gadgets for kids who love to emulate their favorite Rock stars from today - and the past.

There's more than a summertime contest here for Rock and Classic Rock stations.  We have long encouraged stations to put together "Take Your Kid To A Classic Rock Concert" series.  Now, it's about forming a backyard band.  For formats that often struggle to attract new and younger audiences, we should take a page from the Disney model, and reflect a trend that is happening right before our very eyes.

Happy Memorial Day!

The JacoBlog will return tomorrow.  Have a great day!

Webtallica

Jacobs Media's Eric Holmes weighs in on Metallica's new website:

I’d like you to meet the newest Jacobs Media client, our first band - Metallica!  Well… OK, so we’re not consulting Metallica, but it definitely looks like they got the W.T.D.A. memo.  (Or maybe they could have written it!)

Their new website is called Mission: Metallica.  While they could’ve just sat back, released the new album and hoped for the best from their old fans, they decided to step it up.

After the debacle called St. Anger, it was obviously clear to Metallica and their management that a different approach was necessary.  And in this case, they’ve done a nice job integrating a standard event – the release of a new album – with a cool digital platform.

The new site includes video blogs of the band writing and recording in the studio, riffs from the new album and more.  The message states, “Experience the new album before it’s done.”  While it’s clearly fan-centric, this is a band that needs to embrace its minions – their original believers and those who discovered the band in the mid-‘90s.

This kind of site is the smartest thing Metallica could’ve done.  By creating solid digital content, they’re going to help raise awareness through e-mailing, IMing and MySpace/Facebook postings of their material.  When you give people a reason to check you out every day, you create an excitement and relevancy that hasn’t been there.

Digital content is going to be the key to almost every industry going forward.  Even through all that loud head-banging, it looks like Metallica got the memo.

The Meters Are Coming! The Meters Are Coming!

Today's Arbitron PPM webinar produced another helpful update about how the new service is tracking, along with a strong contribution from CBS Radio CEO Dan Mason, talking about PPM, accreditation, and posting.

The slide that jumped out at me covers new markets coming online - and soon.  If you're programming, managing, or jocking in one of the towns on this slide, PPM will be here before you know it.  As I am fond of saying in presentations, "PPM changes everything, and PPM changes nothing."  While our entire system of measurement will change in a big, unprecedented way, the elements that make great stations, outstanding brands, and compelling content are still fundamentally the same.

Are you ready for PPM?  Jacobs Media clients should check in with us, as we have a great presentation that functions like a Lamaze class for "expectant PPM markets."  You have to get your head around the changes, and then begin to start preparing for the adjustment.  For those of you who aren't clients, there are great resources on Arbitron's website, including a strong FAQ piece that is worth the read.

CVC TV

If you haven't checked out Hulu.com, take some time over a weekend or a slow evening.  But you'd better prepare to spend a couple of hours watching some interesting television - or perhaps, better referred to as video.  A product of NBC Universal and News Corporation, Hulu is the next wave of video streaming, and the selection is pretty cool.  It may not upend YouTube, but unlike that network - loaded with home videos shot by consumers - Hulu is actual television shows, from right now to the past.  The commercials are unobtrusive, and the variety is steadily increasing.

We talked about the whole Control-Variety-Choice model during "The Bedroom Project," and that's exactly what Hulu is about.  The television networks are buying in, despite the growing pains of revenue generation.  Even though "old media" is struggling to find a revenue model that's very effective, these forays into on-demand online content are signs that the media world is changing rapidly. 

Where does radio fit into this model?  We are woefully out of the CVC race, save for podcasting - the one area where our content can be accessed - and sponsored.

This year's Tech Poll has some encouraging data in that regard.  iPod ownership is now closing in on the 60% mark, and podcast downloading has doubled every year since '06.  Whether you agree that iPods are good or bad for radio, there's no denying that they've replaced the Walkman in the portability race.  And now that three-fourths of Alternative fans own one, how can broadcasters take advantage of this phenomenon?

NPR is well on the way to figuring it out.  Their podcasts stats - downloads and sponsorships - are downright impressive.  While public radio may have more available content than the average music station, the basic model is proof that radio can play in the CVC sandbox. 

End Of The (Land)Line

When the Cell Phone Only controversy took shape a few years ago when our first Tech Poll was released in '05, Arbitron's Ed Cohen told me that the nation's landline statistics were tracked by the National Center for Health Statistics.  I've never figured out why they're the ones that research this data, but nonetheless, their stats are out for the second half of 2007 - and the numbers continue to show a definite trend.

We talk about the wave that powers the meteoric growth of Google, iPods, and YouTube, but the quiet statistic that has impact for all of us is the steady rise of Cell Phone Only households in the U.S.  This new data tells us that about 1 in 6 homes in the U.S. only have a wireless phone.

And of course, the phenomenon is even more pronounced among 25-29 year-olds - more than one-third are now CPO.

Our new Tech Poll data shows even higher CPO numbers - clearly Rockers (specifically Alternative fans) are especially likely to be CPO, and therefore, not in the Arbitron diary process.  Researchers have argued about the effect of their exclusion from studies - ratings and otherwise.  But when large segments of the population are not a part of research surveys, there's something wrong with the process.

Gallup came to this realization last year, and you have to wonder when radio researchers won't have to reach that same conclusion moving forward.  As the NHIS notes, "The potential for bias due to undercoverage remains a real and growing threat to surveys conducted only on landline telephones."  Technology changes everything.  And market research is no exception.

Just like with iPods, this is a problem that is only going to get worse over time.

What Is Community?

In a recent post to "Online Spin," Seana Mulcahy wrote a great piece about the quest for brands to build communities, and the struggles that many face.  We're going through a similar dialogue in radio.  The good news, of course, is that many radio listeners have profiles on MySpace and Facebook.  The challenge for stations, however, is how to build these communities as a part of their overall digital strategies.

Or is it?  In Seana's article, she references a recent Adweek article that featured a quote from Brian Morrissey who noted that brands like craigslist, Zappos.com, and the T-shirt site, www.threadless.com "are quietly building powerful brands online on the strength of communities.  For these companies, community is not a tactic or marketing plan line item, but core to what they do.  It means being hyper-responsive to customers, laser focused on usability, unapologetically human and OK with customers determining the course their businesses should take.  The bonus: When they take off, these brands don't need to do much in the way of advertising, instead letting their customers spread the word."

These companies don't just drop a social networking component onto their websites, a la Seth Godin's Meatball Sundae warnings.  Instead, they organically allow their communities to form by their overall behavior and relationships with their customers.  Apple is another great example.  Their products, their customer service, and their behavior have created a powerful community of fans who do all the viral heavy lifting.

It's about more than having a database, and doing email blasts each week.  It's about empowering the audience, giving them a voice in what stations program, being transparent when jocks are fired or formats are changed, and giving fans a seat at the table.  Several years ago, we called that "NeoRadio."  Today, it's called communities.

No matter what you call it, most radio stations are a great distance away from creating them.  But the potential is always there if we stop talking and broadcasting, and do more listening.  It goes against the grain of what we've been doing for years.  And that's why we have to do more of it.