Insights: Key Audio Stories To Look For 2020

This week’s Westwood One blog post looks ahead at 2020 and outlines events and trends that will impact the audio landscape.

Included are: 

• The shifting of age targets among advertisErs to Boomers 
• The possibility of a Hollywood strike 
• Awareness and usage of Nielsen Media Impact increasing among media planners
• The first “ZoneCasting” pilot for AM/FM radio
• The continuation of the Golden Age of Radio Attribution 

Regarding podcasting, 2020’s main stories should include audience growth, increased brand spend among podcast advertisers, platform innovations, and significant developments in podcast audience measurement. 

2020 highlights also include key ad categories to watch in the coming year including pharmaceutical, tier one auto, direct-to-consumer brands, consumer packaged goods, and political:

• Pharmaceutical: With AbbVie and Pfizer now active, there is a lot of interest among other pharmaceutical brands to use AM/FM radio to complement and supplement network television.
• Tier one auto: 2020 should see a greater focus on network radio among tier one auto brands as a means to supplement declining TV deliveries and introduce real reach to counteract digital fraud.
• Direct-to-consumer (DTC): Given paid social inflation, brands are turning to AM/FM radio, realizing that it can drive both sales and build a DTC brand.
• Consumer packaged goods (CPG): As other brands wake up to what P&G is doing and see the success they are having, more CPG brands will flock to AM/FM radio.
• Local TV Q3/Q4 political sellout could push other categories to AM/FM radio: If political eats up the vast majority of local TV inventory in the last half of the year, brands will have to take a look at AM/FM radio (both local and network) to replace and generate the necessary reach.