Siobhan Kenny (CEO at Radiocentre), Rob Timony (Business Director at XI), Ger Gilroy (Managing Director of Off The Ball), Menno de Boer (Radio Director at Radio 538) and Michael Dujardin (Global Head of Marketing and Media at Tomorrowland Festival) talked about the future of radio and radio advertising.
Siobhan Kenny said that she is aiming to boost the advertising market by £2 million over the next two years. However, things can be difficult. She said that she is up against significant barriers in terms of other advertising channels, such as digital and even print.
Rob Timony, Business followed. He is bringing publishers and advertisers together using new and innovative ways to access audiences. For example, Rob is targeting ads using criteria such as age, device and behaviour.
Rob also said that podcasting is something to be embraced, not feared. The average 18-24-year-old listens to podcasts for 4.6 hours a week. Rob said there were lots of wys to monetise podcasts, including pre-rolls and sponsorship.
This session also looked at expanding radio brands. Ger Gilroy talked about how radio sports programming had become a brand in itself, through TV and events. Ger took their radio show on the road, to see a live audience in 2010 – and encouraged the audience to talk more about them, which led to the station selling out a 5000-person arena.
Menno de Boer and Michael Dujardin closed the session. They talked about brand expansion and Michael explained that they advertise the festival outside of Belgium via partnerships with radio stations such as Radio 538.
It was a great session and full of a diverse range of views on what the future of broadcasting will look like. Gilroy concluded by saying: “Our future is our past. We are broadcasters and we will always be broadcasters.”
