Think IOT is Cool? Audacy Thinks You'll Love AoT (Audio of Things)!

CMO Paul Suchman was a participant on a panel focused on transformation in Social Media Power A consistent theme on this panel was that the great evolutionary leap going on with the maturation of various platforms Social media influencers are not only taking that next step in become celebrities but those whom the masses have traditionally defined as quotcelebrityquot are embracing social platforms to an unprecedented level This means long term ramifications for representation and the traditional business models for talentquotFor the more public figure celebrity talent they are looking at their digital platform as a place where for the first time they are able to really be in charge of their narrative and control the persona that they want to put out into the world try things they39ve never tried and get direct feedback from their audiencequot said Lauren Zelner a talent agent in WME39s digital groupSocial channels bring all types of influencers into focus In local markets as Suchman explained onair talent are celebrities With the scale of social networks and an ever increasing arsenal of social tools that give talent the opportunity to connect more deeply with their fan base all the while creating new content and new opportunities for brands to integrate natively and through paid media into that content One area that has shown tremendous growth and is a natural extension for traditional radio talent are podcastsquotYou can really think of podcasts as longform social media in particular the unscripted shows by the bigger starsquot Suchman said quotIt39s informal it39s free thought It39s very conversational in tone They often have companion websites where comments are coming in and they are addressing things in real time Even the advertising can be organic most talent that are delivering content in podcast form are not going to be bringing in an advertiser that they don39t personally believe in and support And then they speak about it with just so much authenticityquotAudacy which owns three podcasts studios including Cadence13 Ellen Pompeoamp8217s podcast Tell Me 2400Sports the official audio and podcast partner of Major League Baseball and Pineapple Street Studios The Catch and Kill Podcast with Ronan Farrow has seen podcasting skyrocket over the past two years One area of special significance is sports content in particular around sports betting which is seeing tremendous growth as states continue to legalize quotWe acquired a company called BetQL which gives lots of analytics and lots of dataquot Suchman noted quotIt helps bettors bet better Our content is traveling faster and farther as we deliver this betspecific content in lockstep with the podcastsquotCRO Brian Benedik was a featured panelist on quotThe Disruption Media Platforms and Advertisingquot For many disruptions can be scary and denote negative connotations Not for Audacy Benedik provided insight into the impetus of the transformation from Entercom quotWe reimagined our entire companyquot he explained quotEntercom was a longtime leader in US linear radio Over the past 510 years we saw our audience migrate to digital We flipped our entire company on its head realizing that if we want to be in this new environment for the next thirty years we had to rebuild the company and that39s what we did We moved from solely linear to a big streaming app podcasts and sports bettingquotLooking forward both Suchman and Benedik see a future where audio only grows in importance Call it quotan audio renaissancequot According to Suchman in this connected world quotIt39s now the AOT the Audio of Things Audio is in your car It39s in your toaster It39s in your home It39s in your phonequot The numbers seem to back up Suchman39s claims as according to the Consumer Tech Association in their January 2022 forecasts the sales of smart speakers and displays aka Amazon Alexa Google Home Apple HomePod which has quickly become a primary way that consumers access music and podcasts is projected to cross 50mm units sold in the year for the first timeFor Benedik whose role prior to Audacy was at Niantic a pioneer in AR and the Metaverse disruption is going to continue quotThe Metaverse is real and it39s comingquot he declared quotAudio definitely is and will play a pivotal role in thatquotFrom disruption to opportunity to quote Stevie Wonder quotMusic knows it is and always will be one of the things that life just won39t quitquot And in an age of ubiquitous access to tunes and passions like sports Audacy continues to innovate and recreate itself to be relevant now and in the futureClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

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Think IOT is Cool? Audacy Thinks You'll Love AoT (Audio of Things)!

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Jeff Minsky

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Think IOT is Cool? Audacy Thinks You'll Love AoT (Audio of Things)!

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