Borrell's Marketing Trends Podcast
Latest Episode:
Episode 96: Why 'All the Right Moves' Didn't Guarantee Knight Ridder's Digital Success
Released:
Twenty years ago, Knight Ridder had $3 billion in annual revenue, a 19% operating margin, and a relentless determination to conquer the digital world. It was the second-largest newspaper company in the U.S. and perhaps the most focused on building a digital empire, even moving its headquarters to Silicon Valley. Within a few years, everything fell apart. In this episode, Gordon & Corey ask the man at the helm, Tony Ridder, why all the right moves never paid off.
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Episodes
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Released: Mon, 24 Apr 2023
While everyone races toward niche local content, many seem to have forgotten the most-demanded content of all. From GenZ to Boomers, this topic is at the top of everybody's daily list. Gordon & Corey explore why everybody talks about the weather, but nobody seems to do anything about it. The podcast features an interview with weather advertising expert Justin Tuggle from The Weather Co.
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Released: Mon, 10 Apr 2023
An influencer who calls himself Antenna Man is calling out companies such as Nexstar, Sinclair, TEGNA, and iHeart, amassing a quarter-million YouTube followers. This episode features an interview with the notorious Antenna Man. Despite the fact that he's urging investors, "please do not fund these multibillion-dollar" companies and claims that radio conglomerates are "almost bleeding the industry dry," Gordon & Corey discover that he's actually a nice guy with a valid point.
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Released: Mon, 27 Mar 2023
Digital focus hasn't been a hallmark of Saga Communications. Among publicly held radio broadcasters, Saga has been at the bottom of the heap in digital revenue. But something has changed, and the company's stunningly successful digital experiment in Tennessee is being rolled out to other markets. In this episode, Gordon & Corey interview the new CEO, Chris Forgy, to learn how Saga will change under his leadership.
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Released: Mon, 13 Mar 2023
Corey interviews three media-savvy students from the University of Miami who say they and their GenZ friends do, indeed, check local news regularly. And you might be surprised to learn which media outlet has snared their attention by pushing stories out on social channels like Instagram. In this episode, the 20-somethings offer frank advice to media companies trying to reach them.
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Released: Mon, 27 Feb 2023
Comments: 1Seems like everybody is selling the same digital marketing products. And that makes them low-margin commodities. Gordon & Corey wonder if it's time for media companies to go back to doing what they do best -- selling higher-margin O&O inventory. They get some insight from omnichannel marketing expert Oliver Jacob, president of Frequence.
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Released: February 13, 2023
Local publishers stand to lose more than $4 billion in annual revenue if third-party cookies disappear, but Corey and Gordon aren't buying the sky-is-falling mentality. The podcast features an interview with two executives from a media consortium that has launched a project that could solve the cookie issue altogether.
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Released: January 31, 2023
With more than 1 million TV programs available, our hosts wonder about the opportunity -- and about the effect on good ol' broadcast TV. This episode features an interview with Simulmedia founder and CEO Dave Morgan, who utteres a fearful word when asked about TV ad budgets. He also talks about how the phase-out of third-party cookies are likely to affect advertising-dependent online publishers.
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Released: Tue, 17 Jan 2023
Corey and Gordon maintain their record of having neither attended nor gushed about the annual gadget-fest in Las Vegas, but they did decide to do something other than poke fun at it this time. In this episode, they ring up two other smarties -- Fred Jacobs of Jacobs Media, and media disruption expert Todd Handy -- to get their impressions. What did this year's CES foretell for media and advertising?
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Released: Tue, 3 Jan 2023
As local businesses expand their "owned media" platforms, our hosts wonder how they'll feed the feed the voracious content monsters they created. This episode explores the mysteries of content marketing, and features an interview with the CEO of one of the companies at the forefront, RevContent.
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Released: Mon, 5 Dec 2022
Comments: 1By now, the radio industry was expecting a full pandemic recovery -- back to 2019 operating levels. But that hasn't happened. Revenue continues to run below 2019 levels, radio stocks are trading at or near all-time lows, and Audacy is in danger of being delisted. Our hosts look for insights from Jeff Warshaw, the radio CEO who attempted a $1.2 billion takeover of Cumulus last summer. Warshaw, the incoming chairman of the Radio Advertising Bureau, weighs in on where he thinks the industry is headed, what might happen to Audacy, and whether he might try another run at Cumulus.
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Released: Tue, 22 Nov 2022
The state of next year's economy is a big questionmark for some -- but not for our intrepid hosts. Corey & Gordon have got it all figured out, including how wide local ad-buyers will be opening their wallets next year. The podcast features forecasts for local advertising in 2023, plus an interview with Shari Bower, an executive with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
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Released: Mon, 7 Nov 2022
This year is ending with a lot of uncertainty, but Gordon & Corey aren't fuzzy at all on what 2023 will look like. Wrapping up a survey of thousands of local ad buyers and on the eve of issuing their local advertising forecast, the hosts offer a peek at the ups and downs they expect for the new year. The podcast also features an interview with Spectrio's Jimmy Hunt, who's tapping into a new and innovative form of OTT that could be insulated from any downturn in ad spending.
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Released: Mon, 24 Oct 2022
Could the phase-out of 3rd party cookies turn into a comeback for local print and broadcast media? Longtime media and advertising executive Shawn Riegsecker thinks so. Not one to pull punches, the founder and CEO of Basis (formerly Centro) says media made every mistake in the book dealing with the Internet for the past 20 years. But they now have the opportunity to turn tables on the tech giants. Corey & Gordon offer their insights on Riegsecker's vision.
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Released: Mon, 10 Oct 2022
Comments: 1Local B2B publishing remains a print-centric business without all the pain and suffering. In fact, it's experiencing just the opposite -- growth in print circulation and ad revenue. In this episode, Gordon and Corey explore why. The podcast features an interview with the president of Arkansas' biggest business publisher and board member of the industry's trade association, the Alliance of Area Business Publishers.
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Released: Mon, 26 Sep 2022
Comments: 1The Great Geographic Dispersion under way. Small cities are getting bigger, and big ones smaller. And that should greatly benefit local media, according to The Washington Post's Ethan Selzer, our guest for this episode. Selzer offers a long-term view of the media industry -- newspapers in particular -- as the pandemic subsides.
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Released: Mon, 12 Sep 2022
Stories about Gannett selling or shuttering newspapers and laying off hundreds of staffers have dominated the headlines. So how can the nation's largest newspaper company survive the next decade? This episode poses that question to CEO Mike Reed, who offers his vision for what Gannett will look like in 2032.
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Released: Mon, 29 Aug 2022
In this episode, Gordon & Corey turn to one of the most influential executives in the media industry and ask, "How will radio survive the next decade?" iHeart CEO Bob Pittman offers his perspective on how radio will remain unique over the next 10 years, whether its dependence on advertising revenue might need to change, and whether we should be calling it "radio" at all. This is the seventh in a summer-long series of podcasts asking CEOs for their long-term vision of the media industry.
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Released: Mon, 15 Aug 2022
How will out-of-home advertising fare in the coming metaverse? Clear Channel CEO Scott Wells offers his vision. He talks about the role of 3D, AR, and VR, and addresses the question, "Because Outdoor can now deliver real-time messages, is the industry getting into the news business?" This is the sixth in a series of interviews asking industry CEOs the question, "What's your vision for 2032?"
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Released: Mon, 1 Aug 2022
The 10-year-challenge series continues with the top executive at Hearst Television offering his vision on what 2032 looks like for the industry. Keying off Hearst's 135 years in the business, Jordan Wertlieb sees TV stations' success depending on one key thing -- and it's not technology or distribution. Gordon & Corey offer their usual pithy assessment.
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Released: Mon, 18 Jul 2022
Gordon & Corey issue the 10-year challenge to David Chavern, CEO of the newspaper industry's trade association, News Media Alliance. Chavern posits that while the printed version of today's newspapers may be smaller, their audiences are larger than ever. By 2032, newsroom staffs will be larger and their largest revenue stream won't be advertising. This is the fourth in a summerlong series asking CEOs what their industry looks like a decade from now.
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Released: Mon, 4 Jul 2022
With OTT already siphoning money from radio & TV budgets, is local broadcast media about to suffer its most troublesome decade? In this episode, Gordon & Corey take their summerlong "10-year challenge" question -- what does 2032 look like to you? -- to Curtis LeGeyt, the dynamic, new CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters.
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Released: Mon, 20 Jun 2022
After interviewing Nexstar's visionary CEO in our last episode, Gordon takes the "10-year challenge" to Salem Media's CEO, Dave Santrella. Where does he see Salem -- and the radio industry -- in 2032? This is the second in a summerlong series where Gordon & Corey are handing the mic to media industry CEOs and asking, "What's in your future?"
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Released: Mon, 6 Jun 2022
Gordon & Corey hatch the bright idea of seeing if any CEOs might be willing to take the "10-year challenge." What's their long-term vision, and what will their companies look like in 2032. Kicking off a summerlong series of CEO interviews is Nexstar Media Group's Perry Sook, a guy with a long reputation of not only having a long-term vision, but also making it happen.
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Released: Mon, 16 May 2022
Why has AM/FM radio survived Walkmans, iPods, Pandora, smart speakers and now podcasts? Fresh from a new survey of 30,000 station listeners, longtime radio analyst Fred Jacobs sits in as co-host for Corey and joins Gordon on the debate over why radio lives on. The podcast features an interview with Bill Rose discussing audience measurement and Nielsen's hip new Personal People Meter.
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Released: Mon, 2 May 2022
The pandemic didn't put much wind in newspapers' digital wings. In fact, many saw digital sales go backwards. In this episode, Gordon & Corey talk about how newspaper companies once led the way with digital revenue, and why things have gotten so tough. The podcast features an interview with Darien Southerland, who's trying to get local newspapers into the fast-growing podcast business.
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Released: Mon, 18 Apr 2022
Sure, most of the money local businesses spend on digital advertising goes directly to Google and Facebook. But do you know how much stays in-market? For most, it adds up to tens of millions of dollars up for grabs by local sellers. Corey & Gordon preview the major findings of a new annual report, and bring a guest co-host on board to get his thoughts. The podcast features Todd Handy, Chief Digital Officer for Beasley Media Group and offers a sneak peek at a 66-page report that's about to be published.
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Released: Mon, 4 Apr 2022
Advertising has become more complex than ever. And that's spawned one of the biggest opportunities of all for marketers to become trusted advisors to their own customers. But just how smart are you about all things digital? Corey & Gordon quiz each other on a few basic questions, then turn to longtime advertising expert Tim Burke, CEO of Conduit Digital, for his take. Burke talks about helping sellers become experts beyond the products they're selling, and about outsourcing digital product fulfillment in a way that helps sellers do what they do best.
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Released: Mon, 21 Mar 2022
Social Media -- especially TikTok -- can be a hotbed of, well.... questionable behavior. So, Corey & Gordon were surprised to find a faith-based local radio broadcaster cultivating a crop of popular young influencers on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. Episode 68 features an interview with Mike Reed, the Salem Media executive who heads up that growing network and whose daughter, Michelle, has a YouTube channel boasting 37 million views.
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Released: Mon, 7 Mar 2022
Gordon & Corey have finally figured out what those crazy Gen Z kids have been doing all this time with their smart phones. They've been learning things. Marketing things. Media things -- like how to build an audience of hundreds of thousands of followers. This episode features an interview with a young math teacher from Arkansas whose audiences on TikTok and YouTube beat most of the long-established newspapers and TV stations in Little Rock.
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Released: Mon, 7 Feb 2022
Sure, a lot of people are quitting their stale, boring advertising jobs. But on the other side of the equation, many companies have made themselves a magnet for new hires. In this episode, Gordon & Corey dissect the nuances of hiring at the local level, and get some tips from SHRM Field Services Director Monique Akanbi on how companies can fulfill diversity & inclusion initiatives by looking internally rather than externally.
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Released: Mon, 24 Jan 2022
TikTok, Facebook Reels, YouTube, Hulu.... They're all the rage. But how do these video opportunities translate down to local markets? In this episode, Corey and Gordon debate the issue. They also interview Catherine Badalamente, who is about to take over as CEO at Graham Media's TV group after a dozen years heading up its digital initiatives.
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Released: Mon, 10 Jan 2022
A famed advertising guru called 2021's advertising growth a "false storm" and suggested that traditional media companies and ad agencies have 12 months to transform -- or die. Gordon & Corey consult with media transformation expert Scott Anthony from Innosight, who sees two paths ahead. The hosts also tackle major shifts in automotive advertising, which suffered a topsy-turvy two years and seems to be on a very different path in 2022.
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Released: Mon, 27 Dec 2021
Gordon's longtime friend and sales guru, Jim Doyle, discuss his new book, Selling with a Servant Heart. After interviewing top sales performers across various industries, Jim channels the art of being client centric, and pushes deeper to generate success. Even Gordon sees the light through his Scrooge-like fog.
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Released: Tue, 14 Dec 2021
Gordon and Corey keep, oddly, finding themselves in agreement as the two discuss their take on popular 2022 marketing predictions, and the implications on the local level. Maybe it's Gordon's martini and Corey's holiday jolliness, but this topic filled episode is sure to illuminate your curiosities for 2022.
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Released: Tue, 30 Nov 2021
Fresh back from a broadcasting conference in New York, Gordon interviews one of the featured speakers, station owner DuJuan McCoy. Operating two virtual TV channels in Indianapolis, McCoy discusses how his stations produce twice as much local video content and have accumulated a far broader online audience than other stations. Even Corey is impressed.
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Released: Tue, 16 Nov 2021
Demand has mushroomed for marketing graduates as local businesses clamor for someone to take over all their "owned" media pages. Who are these youngsters, and how will they influence advertising decisions? In this episode, Gordon & Corey talk to a marketing professor and two of his students -- 20-somethings who aren't all that familiar with radio or newspapers or the name of the local TV station.
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Released: Mon, 1 Nov 2021
Car dealers are big wheels in the local advertising world, but things sure have gotten wonky. New and used cars are flying off the lots, leaving dealers feeling as though they don't need to advertise at all. Corey and Gordon explore the phenomenon, interviewing leading car-marketing expert, John Fitzpatrick, from Force Marketing.
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Released: Mon, 18 Oct 2021
The pandemic certainly threw things in a tizzy, but that's only part of the reason the advertising industry can't seem to recruit enough replacements to fill it's 50,000-strong army of sales reps. Corey & Gordon dive into some new findings that may explain the problem, then talk with a master recruiter, Robert Hawthorne, about how companies are overcoming the issue.
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Released: Mon, 4 Oct 2021
Google and Facebook have cracked the do-it-yourself code for local advertisers. Does that mean the days of the local ad-sales rep are numbered? Corey and Gordon dive into recent survey data, then turn to a DIY platform export, Rosie O'Meara from GroundTruth, for answers.
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Released: Mon, 20 Sep 2021
Over two decades, well-funded attempts to create hyperlocal news sites have collapsed. But not Patch. In its 14th year, Patch boasts 25 million users across 1,100 local sites, with six consecutive years of double-digit revenue growth and profitability. The company also has a new growth-minded CEO ... which has Corey & Gordon wondering what's next. The podcast features an interview with Warren St. John, the former New York Times reporter who is president of Patch.
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Released: Mon, 6 Sep 2021
Mushrooming demand for marketing services has been met with squashing skepticism about profitability. In fact, many see things like reselling SEM or SEO as loss leaders. This episode goes to the front lines by bringing in Daryl Hively from digital services provider Guarantee Digital as a guest co-host. Could markups really be as high as 200%? Gordon drills Daryl on pricing strategies and where the biggest profits lie.
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Released: Mon, 23 Aug 2021
COVID-19 drove an influx of digital-only newspaper subscriptions -- many from young adults -- and breathed new life into the struggling newspaper industry. Second-quarter financial results showed many bright spots. Could the industry be turning a corner? In this episode Gordon & Corey check the industry's vital signs and talk with Mike Reed, chairman and CEO of the nation's largest newspaper company, Gannett.
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Released: Mon, 9 Aug 2021
Radio groups have been reporting stellar results for digital sales in the first half of 2021. Could the industry have finally gotten its digital mojo? Hosts Gordon & Corey discuss the five-year turnaround, and how one company has become the radio industry's North Star. This podcast features an interview with Bill Wilson, CEO of Townsquare Media.
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Released: Mon, 26 Jul 2021
When it comes to dealing with sales reps, email is the preferred method -- even when consummating the "buy." So you'd think sellers would be email aces. Au contraire, say Corey & Gordon. And they have proof. This episode features Borrell's director of client development, Taryn Tatarinowicz, who reels off a handful of comments from frustrated ad buyers.
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Released: Mon, 12 Jul 2021
Almost half of the 5,500 digital agencies in the U.S. are run by media companies, but they're struggling to grow beyond being boutique shops. In this episode, Gordon & Corey preview a new report examining how some agencies have been able to scale operations and embark on a path to become the dominant local agency. The podcast features an interview with Tom Cheli, CEO of Frequence, which contributed 27 months of sales data that led to the analysis.
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Released: Mon, 21 Jun 2021
In this final episode of the series, Corey & Gordon review the lessons learned from failed agencies and ones that are thriving, then turn their attention to the future. Corey's got his own take on what things look like in the 2030s, but Gordon gets a little more radical on a "last man standing" theory.
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Released: Mon, 7 Jun 2021
In this second episode of a three-part series, Gordon & Corey ruminate on a few spectacular agency failures from the past but shift focus quickly to success stories. Featured in this episode are interviews with Steven Goldstein from Hubbard Radio's 2060 Digital, Kyle Wirick from Adams Publishing Group's The High Road Agency, and Jason Holmes, who cultivated his own firm, Thrive Fuel, from the ashes of a burned-out agency once run by a newspaper.
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Released: Mon, 24 May 2021
Digital agencies are all the rage, but not all survive. In this episode, Gordon & Corey embark on the first of a three-part series exploring the phenomenon. Episode 48 interviews three executives from newspaper and TV companies whose agencies failed. They include Mark Poss from Big Fish Works in Red Wing, Minnesota; Chris Edwards from Fusion Farm in Cedar Rapids; and Dan Easton from Advocate Digital Media in Victoria, Texas. They all succeeded initially. But everything unraveled after each made a critical decision.
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Released: Mon, 10 May 2021
You'll want to silence your phone for this episode (unless, of course, you're listening on your smartphone). Corey and Gordon explore the phenomenon of distractions and what opportunities they hold for the advertising and marketing world. The podcast features an interview with award-winning journalist Maggie Jackson, author of "Distracted: Reclaiming Our Focus in a World of Lost Attention"
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Released: Mon, 26 Apr 2021
Nexstar Media Group owns one of the nation's largest local digital operations, with 122 local websites, 316 mobile apps and more than $200 million in digital revenue last year. But it underwent a major reorganization in late 2020, shutting down its separate digital venture and jettisoning unprofitable products. So, where's the company headed in 2021? This episode features an interview with Karen Brophy, a former Hearst newspaper executive who was tapped recently as president of Nexstar's digital division.
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Released: Mon, 12 Apr 2021
Sure, everybody is buying SEM and SEO and needs help managing their Facebook pages. But local businesses are pretty much handling that on their own. So why try to get all up in their stuff and take it over? This episode examines the profitability of handling digital services for SMBs, and checks in with sales expert Adam Burnham from AffinityX, who hasn't always been in sync with the opinion of at least one co-host.
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Released: Mon, 29 Mar 2021
While a lot of people were hand-wringing their way through 2020, the world changed in big and little ways. Corey and Gordon talk about one of the most unnoticed shifts -- what happened to one of the biggest drivers of advertising, U.S. Retail Sales.
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Released: Mon, 15 Mar 2021
With the dust settled, a clearer picture of 2021 is emerging. Corey lays out his forecast for local advertising and notes a major shift in businesses from "retention" mode to acquiring new customers this year. Will that strengthen mass media like TV and newspapers?
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Released: Mon, 1 Mar 2021
Fire up your favorite note-taking software before you listen to this episode. Corey & Gordon throw out a lot of statistics as they take the pulse of the 45% of businesses that are buying streaming-video advertising. They discover a smoking gun in one set of stats that points directly to one type of ad-buyer that seems most attracted to video marketing.
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Released: Mon, 15 Feb 2021
Radio officially turned 100 last year, but can it survive the next 10? Corey & Gordon explore radio's challenges but discover something remarkable: It's morphing and beginning to distance itself ever so slightly from the word "radio." The episode features an interview with Radio Advertising Bureau CEO and President Erica Farber, who offers a broader view (think "audio") of an industry that's actually growing.
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Released: Mon, 1 Feb 2021
Corey and Gordon explore a fascinating survey revealing exactly when local marketers expect a return to normalcy. It's an important inflection point that's likely to unleash tightly coiled ad budgets, the hosts believe. This episode also features an interview with Evvnt Chairman Peter Newton, who discusses how the events business may be forever transformed by the pandemic.
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Released: Mon, 18 Jan 2021
Faced with an advertising crisis, many local media companies pivoted in a new direction that may foretell their future. In this episode, Corey & Gordon take a look at how one trade association blazed a very different path for broadcast and print media in 2020 that has them working together and finding support from communities they serve. It features an interview with Nancy Lane, a former publisher and now CEO of the Local Media Association.
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Released: Mon, 4 Jan 2021
As more viewers turn to on-demand programming and advertisers shift dollars to targeted media, how much trouble are local broadcasters really in? Corey & Gordon discuss the headwinds and advantages local TV faces. The podcast features an interview with Emily Barr, 2020's Broadcaster of the Year and Graham Media's CEO, who offers her thoughts on what TV needs to do to survive.
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Released: Mon, 21 Dec 2020
In this last episode of the season, Corey & Gordon assemble a few colleagues around the hearth for a healthy look back at 2020. They recall how the year started with a standing-room-only Local Advertising Conference in Miami, then morphed quickly into panic, lockdowns, and a lot of pivoting. The episode even includes a holiday song that's, well, as chaotic and off-tune as the year.
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Released: Mon, 7 Dec 2020
What's the fate of local newspapers? Do local TV stations face the same issues headed into the new year? Our penultimate podcast of 2020 features an interview with Donald Graham, chairman of Graham Holdings and former publisher of The Washington Post. Graham reflects on what led to the decision to sell the paper in 2013 after eight decades of family ownership, and what lessons today's print and broadcast media might learn from Bezos' handling of The Post.
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Released: Mon, 23 Nov 2020
The nation's largest survey of local advertisers is in, and hosts Gordon & Corey are all agog over the key findings. Episode 35 also features what the hosts claim will be the soundtrack for the first quarter of 2021. Listen closely!
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Released: Mon, 9 Nov 2020
After five decades in the media business and three as one of the industry's most popular sales trainers, Jim Doyle is easing into retirement. Consider this podcast a sort of "exit interview" with the guy who knows advertising sales inside and out. He discusses what's changed about the business since his first days as a sales rep, what hasn't changed, and the "magic wand" he'd like to wave to fix the media-sales process.
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Released: Mon, 26 Oct 2020
Gordon & Corey discuss new research pegging the burgeoning Content Marketing industry at a whopping $63 billion. As more businesses develop their own channels, they're finding a growing need to feed the "news" monster. Julia Campbell, GM of The Branded Content Project, join the hosts for a lively discussion on where it's all headed.
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Released: Mon, 12 Oct 2020
Corey dives into a recent survey of 225 local ad agencies and finds that their deepening love affair with OTT is being financed by their tried and true longtime lover -- broadcast TV. The podcast has Gordon & Corey poring through key findings, including how agencies feel the pandemic has changed the effectiveness of certain types of media.
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Released: Mon, 28 Sep 2020
Corey & Gordon bring back their most popular guest, a local ad buyer who isn't afraid to be blunt about what works and what doesn't. This no-holes-barred episode has the hosts listing some of the ....uh... more interesting audience claims made by different types of media, and has their guest reacting. Brace yourself before you hit play. "Smartypants" hasn't mellowed a bit since her 2019 appearance.
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Released: Mon, 14 Sep 2020
Fresh off a project to size the U.S. Content Marketing business, Corey talks about how COVID-19 has buoyed the need for many businesses to tell their stories via "sponsored content" methods. This podcast also features an interview with Brian Gorman, founder of iPublish, which was recently acquired by Legacy.com. Gorman says the company is now processing 600,000 obituaries a year and is discovering new ways develop a business around these content-rich capsules of information.
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Released: Mon, 31 Aug 2020
Vevo has slipped into the role once occupied by MTV, serving up 26 billion music-video views per month. Gordon & Corey discuss Vevo's plan to tap media sales forces to sell commercial spots. Will Gittchee Goomee Tattoo in Duluth buy an ad in Post Malone's Latest Video? This episode features an interview with Nick Simonetti, who heads up Local Ad Sales at Vevo.
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Released: Mon, 17 Aug 2020
Gordon & Corey turn a critical eye toward out-of-home advertising, the only "traditional" form of media that's been wholly unaffected by Google, Facebook, and other digital media. This episode features an interview with Anna Bager, the new CEO of the Out-of-Home Advertising Association of America. She sees OOH as a viable competitor for video advertising that has a very bright future in taxis, airports, elevators, gas pumps, and lobbies.
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Released: Mon, 10 Aug 2020
Are SMBs' buying into the big-brand brouhaha over Facebook? Has COVID-19 altered their love affair with social media? Gordon & Corey pore over new research that draws out some raw responses from local marketers on the whole situation. This episode also features an interview with Joe Lawrence, CEO of a Pittsburgh-based tech company called MeSearch that's taking an innovative approach to ecommerce.
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Released: Tue, 21 Jul 2020
Episode 26 features an interview with Dean Ridings, the president and CEO of the newspaper industry’s largest trade association, America’s Newspapers. With classified ad revenue all but vanished and print circulars at a “tipping point,” Ridings talks about how the industry will generate enough funds to sustain it’s biggest competitive advantage: well-staff newsrooms. Gordon & Corey offer their insights and take a swipe at those who think advertisers will abandon social media and “come back” to tried-and-true print and broadcast media.
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Released: Mon, 6 Jul 2020
Kicking off Season 3, Gordon & Corey place OTT and political advertising and OTT front and center. Borrell's latest Business Barometer is looking good, but prospects look best for OTT or streaming video sales. This episode features an interview with Mark Lieberman, president & CEO of Viamedia, the nation's largest independent seller of local TV advertising solutions, who discusses a "perfect storm" that's coming in August as political advertising comes raging back.
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Released: Tue, 23 Jun 2020
While Corey has gone dark to generate new forecasts for 2020, Jim Brown steps in as guest co-host. Gordon & Jim discuss what they learned from interacting with thousands of local businesses during 51 "crisis marketing" webinars they conducted since late March. Jim also offers insights on a few markets where ad sales will rebound much slower, and what's driving the difference.
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Released: Mon, 8 Jun 2020
Corey takes a break from numbers crunching to talk about where he thinks local advertising will wind up in 2020. (Spoiler alert!) Newspapers and radio are in for the biggest shock, and some markets will fare far better than others. This episode features an interview with Shopify's Ian Black, who describes a big uptick in smaller, local businesses rushing to the company's ecommerce solution during the COVID-19 crisis.
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Released: Tue, 26 May 2020
Media's 'Survival of the Fittest' Scenario Comes True -- And Why TV Is Immune Even before the pandemic, local media companies were going dark at a rate of 6 per week. Gordon & Corey discuss how things have accelerated as scores of print and broadcast companies have gone belly-up in the past two months. The only one in a comfortable position is broadcast TV. The podcast features an interview with TEGNA President & CEO Dave Lougee, who describes how TV's transformation since the last big economic downturn a decade ago has put the industry in an insulated and enviable position.
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Released: Mon, 11 May 2020
(Cue the maudlin piano music) In these unprecedented times, Gordon & Corey are here for you. That's why they've teamed up with Fruity Pebbles.... Episode 21 takes a look at how marketers are struggling to remain in sync with consumers who seem to be suffering media overload. The podcast also identifies marketing decisions that equate to warning signs that a business might not make it through the crisis.
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Released: Mon, 27 Apr 2020
Fresh off a late-April survey of local businesses, Gordon & Corey debate what's in store as they plan to hit re-start on advertising budgets. With a 10-point shift in the percentage of local businesses planning to resume or increase ad spending since late March, is a Grand Reopening imminent?
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Released: Mon, 13 Apr 2020
Gordon & Corey take a look at a recent survey of local marketing activity amid the COVID-19 crisis and find that small group of businesses have gotten very busy indeed. Master marketers and a few media companies have skipped the hand-wringing altogether. This episode looks at how skilled local marketers are viewing the crisis, and how one broadcaster has sprung into action and created a dynamic library of more than 600 examples of crisis marketing messages for ad-sales reps. The show features an interview with the Vice President of Digital Media Sales for Nexstar Media Group, Bill Caudill, who talks about how the company's 1,000+ reps have pivoted.
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Released: Mon, 30 Mar 2020
Amid our pandemic paralysis, local marketers are self-isolating into one of two categories: Those who see an opportunity to shine, and those who don't. Marketing ideas are in high demand for both. If you want to open their doors, you'd better come with three ideas in your back pocket (and maybe a gift-wrapped can of Lysol.) Gordon & Corey are joined by Borrell Associates President Jim Brown in this fast-paced "give us your best ideas" episode. The show features a phone call with Matt Coen, co-founder of the quintessential cool-promotions company, Second Street Media.
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Released: Mon, 16 Mar 2020
Youth marketing, hulu's local sales effort, mushrooming OTT, branded content, an explosion in podcasting -- the biggest takeaways from Borrell's big event in 20 minutes. Gordon & Corey offer their observations about some of the presentations by the CEOs of Comscore and Thryv, from youth marketing expert Matt Britton, and from several other executives who took the stage over the two-day event in early March.
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Released: Mon, 2 Mar 2020
Gordon & Corey discuss programmatic buying at the local level, identifying the hottest growth areas: OTT, targeted TV spots, geofencing, and Simpli.fi's big push into "addressable" programmatic, which can deliver ads down to the household level. The podcast features an interview with Frost Prioleau, CEO of Simpli.fi, which managed campaigns for 40,000 advertisers last year and saw high growth and dramatic results for its OTT and addressable programs.
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Released: Mon, 17 Feb 2020
Is Amazon the next boogeyman? Gordon & Corey lay out the hard evidence -- including a recent survey showing how local businesses may actually be excited about the opportunity to get their message in front of Amazon buyers. This episode features an interview with ecommerce expert and former Amazon manager Will Margaritis, who offers his take on how Amazon is preparing to attack the local space.
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Released: Mon, 3 Feb 2020
In this episode, Gordon and Corey bat around a few fun facts about video viewing before an intriguing interview with Comscore's new CEO, Bill Livek. With a 50% increase in those who say they're watching on 5 (yes, FIVE) different screens, we're seeing a renaissance in what was once known as "TV" viewing.
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Released: Mon, 20 Jan 2020
This episode features hosts Gordon & Corey taking on the issue of media transformation and how most companies seem to be suffering an identity crisis. It features an interview with Joe Walsh, whose task five years ago was to transform a multibillion-dollar yellow pages company into, well, something else. The interview features a few surprises -- like the fact that Thryv is no longer in the "digital services" business, and how a story by comedian Sam Kinison provided a wake-up call to Thryv's sales team.
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Released: Mon, 6 Jan 2020
Gordon & Corey suddenly realize that the "younger generation" have become an economic force and are influencing new forms of marketing. In fact millennials are now approaching 40 and have hung up the baggy pants and sideways-turned ballcaps, spending their money on homes, cars, and vacations to Cancun. This show features an interview with youth marketing guru Matt Britton, founder of Suzy, a consumer intelligence platform, who's advised dozens of major brands trying to reach these dynamic and sometimes demanding new consumers.
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Released: Mon, 9 Dec 2019
In the final episode of 2020, Gordon & Corey interview GroupM's Brian Wieser, president of business intelligence at GroupM. Known as "the most quoted man in advertising," Wieser recently issued his annual forecast, and it's .... interesting, to say the least. You may be shocked at how he now sees the role of media in the whole marketing equation. The wide-ranging interview, and Gordon & Corey's analysis, covers political advertising, outdoor's resilience, TV's troubles, radio's flatness, and the the eight companies that are driving digital spending.
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Released: Mon, 25 Nov 2019
Gordon & Corey tackle "stupid things that make life entertaining." Like crazy uncles at the Thanksgiving table, they blurt opinions on the notion that P&G is "coming back" to traditional media, broadcast TV's plan to pursue SMBs, and NBC's idea to put QR codes on TV screens. There's no guest interview in this episode -- just pure, unadulterated Gordon and Corey.
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Released: Mon, 11 Nov 2019
With shopping season upon us, Gordon and Corey discuss the media industry's obsession with protecting its news franchise while letting another franchise -- advertising information -- slip away. Is Facebook's friendly approach to local news actually bad for the industry? Is Amazon the boogeyman poised to steal everything away? The show also features an interview with cannabis marketing expert Greg Heiman from SiteImpact and a discussion of how marketing for CBD products and cannabis has mushroomed to a $2 billion segment. (Sponsor note: the phone number mentioned in this week's commercial spot is 561-685-8991.)
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Released: Mon, 28 Oct 2019
TV budgets have become "the elephant to target," which has spurred the broadcast TV industry to take the gloves off. Hosts Corey & Gordon discuss why TV is so pressured, then talk to Steve Lanzano, president of the Television Bureau of Advertising. (Sponsor note: the phone number mentioned in this week's commercial spot is 561-685-8991.)
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Released: Mon, 14 Oct 2019
It's been 5 years since Clark Gilbert was CEO of Deseret Media's print, broadcast & digital operations, and he has new perspective on what the future holds for local media companies. Hosts Gordon & Corey discuss how challenging digital transition can be, and pose a key question for Clark Gilbert: If you were suddenly the CEO of a big radio company, what would you do?
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Released: Mon, 30 Sep 2019
This episode includes stand-in guest host Jim Brown, president of Borrell Associates, and Gordon's interview with Nexstar CEO Perry Sook, conducted days after the FCC approval of the Tribune acquisition. Our Episode 6 zooms in on broadcast TV, which commands the biggest ad budgets but a relatively small market penetration of ad buyers. The featured 10-minute interview explores Sook's view on whether OTT subscription revenue might replace retrans fees (now more than half of Nexstar's revenue), what "sapling" segment of the company he sees developing into an oak tree, and what Nexstar looks like five years from now.
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Released: Mon, 16 Sep 2019
Before tackling the main topic, Gordon and Corey kick off this episode by distilling the results of their annual survey of 2,000+ local ad buyers down to three not-so-little things. Then they hone in on the only traditional advertising medium that continues to grow despite (or perhaps because of) the proliferation of digital media. The show features an interview with Kym Frank, an innovator in cross-media measurement and president of Geopath.
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Released: Tue, 3 Sep 2019
Gordon & Corey rate 10 things in the news on whether they'll affect advertisers or whether they're just hyped-up headlines. This episode also features an interview with a local ad-buyer who really knows her marketing stuff. She offers her assessment of which media she'd buy today, and which she'd avoid like the plague. (Caution: very few make the "buy" list.)
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Released: Mon, 19 Aug 2019
Episode 3: Radio's "On Fire" Digital Sales, Why "Addressable Digital Advertising" is Declining, and an Interview with Jesse McCambridge, Cox Media Group's Senior Director of Digital Sales. In this episode, the hosts offer their theories on why radio has suddenly awakened to the Internet. They also discuss a sudden downward adjustment on how much digital advertising local media companies are selling. The spotlight interview is with the head of digital sales for Cox Media Group, a company that consistently ranks as a top shareholder of digital revenue in its TV, radio, and newspaper markets.
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Released: Mon, 5 Aug 2019
Episode 2: Where 80% of Social Media 'Likes' Come From, Newspaper Megamerger, & Why Email is So Powerful In this episode, the hosts discuss a rumored newspaper megamerger, emergence of social media as the most-popular advertising medium of all, and why the vast majority of advertisers handle their own email -- and fumble doing so. The podcast features an interview with Site Impact's Brandon Rosen, who offers his observations on why email is so powerful, yet so underutilized. As usual, it's chock full of great research tidbits and a lively give-and-take between Corey and Gordon.
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Released: Tue, 16 Jul 2019
In Episode 1, Gordon & Corey get frank about the fate of newspapers, point out some vagaries in how advertising is tracked, and take a critical look at whether podcasting is just another hyped digital toy. The podcast discussion features an interview with longtime radio-executive-turned-podcast-guru Steve Goldstein of Amplifi Media.
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