Category: content strategy

As the Bridge Ratings hath shewn, the big growth area to be realized by radio-like industry will likely in the realm of internet radio. See this graph for an eye-popping projection. By 2020 those numbers fast approach those of the slowly declining terrestrial radio. HD Radio is far behind.

Manufacturers are lining up. The most recent device garnering buzz is the TorianWireless device. There are several phone/PDA/Treo-like devices that have the capability to play internet radio / audio, but they are quite expensive and require a bit more of the users. The simpler Torian product looks to be the first dedicated portable wifi radio. It will certainly be one of many upcoming products that will feature wifi radio.

The Edge, a rock station in Toronto, has created a landing page for cellphones and PDA devices. Radio World reports that this is set to coincide with the rollout of city-wide wifi.

Other stations, I presume, will follow suit. Those stations with a great presence and relevance in the community should do quite well by this. Make the web stream [or more than one — be the trusted curator of content] available and promote it as part of the station’s stance on cutting edge technology. Tell the listeners about the option to listen to via PDAs, mobile phones, and wifi units.

Most likely, this will provide more listeners than an HD2 or HD3 stream. Especially if those Bridge Ratings predictions pan out. More and more communities are installing city-wide wifi, and the 4g mobile network is right around the corner.

Don’t fear it.

Take advantage of it.

In the past couple of weeks, the youth-oriented music TV juggernaut MTV has re-launched their Spanish-language channel. The channel had been around for some time, but had little identity other than a logo and descriptive yet unimaginitive name of MTV Español. The program roster was much like that of the regular MTV of yore — nothing but videos, all kinds, all pop music genres [rock, pop, R&B, hip-hop]. MTV Español did have the popular music with the Reggaetón, Latin hip-hop, urban Latin, Latin Rock, and others, but there was no form.

MTV Tr3s, the new name of the Latino-centric channel is changing all of that. The name itself is an interesting thing; it is a logical extension of the branding that MTV has pursued in the past with its second channel launched in the lated 90s: MTV2. MTV2 was to be a return to the form of the old MTV, playing nothing but videos again. This was refreshing because the regular MTV was playing some videos, but they were also packing the schedule with non-music related, youth-oriented programming like The Real World and lame dating games and so on. MTV was finally figuring out that they had a demographic that would consume more than just music videos.

From a strictly visual standpoint, the name MTV Tr3s is clever because it incorporates the Spanish word for three, “tres” [mom, arent’ you glad I watched Sesame Street?] and takes to the mainstream the youth internet/texting phenomenon of leet [a.k.a. 1337] by switching the “é” to a “3” with a gravé. This is a very explicit reference to a youth-exclusive code of sorts. This gives the name a certain caché with the kids, as most of the parents do not know what is up.

As I watched a rebroadcast of the Tr3s launch party, I was struck by how clear the messaging was to the viewers. You aren’t watching MTV Español any longer; this is MTV Tr3s and it is for you — billingual, hip, and proud to show the wonderful Latino youth culture. The pride factor is something that MTV has cultivated in some interstials on some of their other channels like MTV Jams, the hip-hop video channel, and the sister company’s VH1 Soul, an R&B and soul video stream. This is something we will see more and more of in the future when media companies attempt to secure new audiences with more than a passing interest in the specific content offering.

Programmatically, MTV tr3s will mirror the successes of what currently dominates the MTV schedule. There is a separate version of the ever-popular after school program TRL [Total Request Live, a viewer-voted hits countdown] called Mi TRL. This is a nod to the billingual nature of the concept; you have the possesive Mi in Spanish but retain the TRL from the English version. It could have easily been Mi PTV [petición total viva] which would have missed the point entirely.

Other borrowed programs will include Pimpeando, a version of the outlandish automobile-sprucing hit show Pimp My Ride and Quiero Mis Quinces a culturally relevant version of My Super Sweet Sixteen. The MTV version followed extravagantly wealthy girls’ sixteenth birthday party plannings and actual event. The Tr3s version focuses on the Latina equivalent, the quinceañera, celebrated on the fifteenth birthday. MTV has done some homework here.

Finally, the website for this new channel is an entitiy unto itself, rather than being a new section on the MTV site. Features include a MySpace-like social networking tool that allows users to connect with people, filtering the results based on age, sex, nationality, and interests. The whole site is peppered with Spanish words here and there, most often ones that share a common Latin root, therefore easily deciphered by those that do not speak Spanish [ex: la voz, comunidad, representa.]

What relevance might this offer to the radio world? As we go forth to capture a younger audience, the same amount of homework needs to be completed. It can’t be an hour here and there. MTV could have done that with a three-hour block on Saturdays, but they were aware that the potential was too large. Focusing the effort into an entirely new channel is a gamble, but also may be the only way to truly serve this new audience.

Remember those old tabletop jukebox controllers that allowed you to select tunes without leaving your swell milkshake? [Like the one pictured above?]

McDonald’s has decided to dust of that old idea for the modern age. Engadget reports that the omnipresent burger purveyor has started rolling out, to select franchises, a system of flat panel video monitors that will present content to those in the restaurant during the burger intake. Called MVenue, this content system will be controlled by folks sending text messages to it via mobile phones or via wifi.

This looks like a bad scene out of Back to the Future II, where Marty McFly is transported into a dizzying tech-filled future.

Those folks were onto something in the 1950s. Kids wanted the content. At the time, it was pop hits on 45rpm records. The media moguls’ tabletop jukebox controller facilitated that. MVenue looks to be the logical progression of this. While it is an interesting conduit, as was the controller for the jukebox, its future depends on CONTENT.

The Metropolitan Opera has just inked a deal with several providers to facilitate the distribution of their operatic ones and zeros.

There will be live RealAudio streams on the Met’s website, 1500 historic radio broadcasts available via Rhapsody, live broadcasts over satellite radio, and simulcast of performances in movie theaters. Future plans will address the opportunities via DVD, CD, downloads, and “opera ring-tones”.

Imagine the embarassment of having your mobile phone ring to the tune of Nessun Dorma in the middle of a theatrical viewing of Gianni Schicci.

The police in Minneapolis have taken to blasting, at an alarming volume, operatic arias via the soundsystem to discourage loitering in certain places downtown. Perhaps the Met should look into licensing that as well…

Today, USA Today has a color graph-free story about fidelity and media consumption. This use of the term fidelity addresses an inherent heirarchy in media consumption; viewing a movie in a theatre vs. viewing it via DVD vs. viewing it on a mobile phone. The basic premise is that consumers want the most pure experience possible, but they are willing to forego some of that fidelity in the pursuit of convenience.

PVR Wire had an article about this earlier this month, referring to an LA Times survey indicating that many more people are willing to watch video on their home computers, as opposed to the SMALL screen of the mobile phone. The participants cited cost and, of all things, low fidelity.

This line of thought was addressed when we looked at the blue film industry’s reluctance to upgrade to HD DVD and Blu Ray Disc.

The articles above dig further into the reasons of reluctance on the part of the consumer. The automobile record player goes to show that buy-in from car manufacturers does not equate mass market awareness or adoption. There is a happy medium in there somewhere, no pun intended.

Hear me out on this one.

Red Herring has a fascinating article about one of the industries that has led technological revolutions as they relate to sea-change format adaptation: the adult film industry. Just like Milton Berle sold TVs, purveyors of blue movies sold home projectors, VCRs and then DVD players. That final era was paralleled by the industry’s growth online. Producers used the advances of each media technology as selling points. Those same selling points were utilized in the mainstream.

The interesting thing is that some of these content companies are saying “no” to the latest technologies of extended resolution video: HD DVD and Blu-Ray Disc. This has to be a blow to the companies proffering said technologies to the public; the very industry that catapulted VCRs and DVD players into popularity and into every living room is turning its back on a new, arguably relavent, advance.

What does this have to do with radio? It is not enough.

Adult film producers are coming to the conclusion that some critics of HD Radio already have: there is not enough benefit from the technology to warrant any or further investment. Without clear benefits in a scattered media landscape, technologies will fizzle quickly. Many folks are quite happy with the resolution of DVD, just as they are happy with the sound quality of compressed audio on their iPods and internet radio stations.

It is the same “better isn’t better enough to matter” argument is sending Sony’s Super Audio CD (SACD) into obscurity. Sure, it is better, but it does not matter enough to the consumer. Having sat down in front of a HiFi system at a boutique stereo shop with a Super Audio CD of Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, I can clearly remember thinking “This sure is good, but will I buy it? No.” I would rather buy more regular CDs. And I have.

Content is king. I’m ashamed, but interested.

Link to Red Herring article.