David Huszar’s background has always been on the more eclectic side of the radio business from writing software to IT to sales to syndication. It’s given him a different perspective on the context of radio’s place on the digital landscape than your average former programmer pushed into the interactive division by default. He has been working for the Interactive division of Corus Entertainment, one of Canada’s leading broadcast companies, for the past five years. At the recent NAB conference in Washington, D.C., Huszar was part of a panel called “Broadcasters In Search Of Actionable Mobile Strategies.” FMQB caught up with him to continue the discussion from that panel as it relates to radio’s place on the mobile digital landscape.
By Michael Parrish
David Huszar
David Huszar’s background has always been on the more eclectic side of the radio business. He’s never really had a traditional job, dating back to his first gig which was writing a software program for the sales department of Canada’s largest Rock station. His course thereafter took him from writing software to IT to sales to syndication. It’s given him a different perspective on the context of radio’s place on the digital landscape than your average former programmer pushed into the interactive division by default.
Huszar has been working for the Interactive division of Corus Entertainment, one of Canada’s leading broadcast companies, for the past five years and says, “Early on we had a roadmap for our future in terms of technology. We came to the trite revelation that we’re actually a broadcasting company. From our point-of-view, it was a good revelation, because it meant that we shouldn’t continue to build up a big internal infra structure but we should partner with companies that we think are doing the forward thinking stuff, and look to them for some of that expertise. The value to me is that technology is changing so quickly that we don’t need to necessarily invest in internal resources. We can find partners that can help who already have some expertise.”
With those marching orders in mind, Corus Interactive and Integrated Solutions moves forward with a small group that manages strategy and technology platforms for all of Corus’ radio stations.
At the recent NAB conference in Washington, D.C., Huszar was part of a panel called “Broadcasters In Search Of Actionable Mobile Strategies.” FMQB caught up with him to continue the discussion from that panel as it relates to radio’s place on the mobile digital landscape.
You were on the “Broadcasters In Search Of Actionable Mobile Strategies” panel at the recent NAB conference. What did you take away from that panel as an overall theme that radio is facing with mobile strategies?
I really liked what Clive Dickens (COO of the U.K.’s Absolute Radio) had to say and thought he had some good ideas. I was encouraged to see the turn out and felt the overall message was that everybody is fully aware that a good deal of our future is going in a mobile direction and people have to take it seriously. Certainly nobody has really figured out how to monetize this thing yet, from a radio point-of-view.
One of the big takeaways for me was that it’s a bit easier for us in Canada to take the first step into extending our distribution to digital channels because we don’t have to deal with the expense of commercial substitution. As long as we don’t mess with the simulcast stream there is a tariff structure in place that allows us to make the linear signal available on IP enabled devices. That’s important because we know that people aren’t buying a lot of FM transistor radios anymore, and we need to make it convenient for people to continue to consume our content, so we need to make sure our content is available on all of the devices that people are now using to get their entertainment and information. So it’s easier for us to do that because we have a system in place that allows us to simulcast our station onto iPhone, Android and Blackberry devices.
We were really surprised when we first launched our first iPhone app in February 2009. We were expecting 10,000 downloads, but in the first month we had over 100,000 and that quickly turned into 250,000 and more. So, that suggested to us that radio content is still relevant, even if the appliance (radio) that people used to listen to it on isn’t the same.
Then you agree with Clive’s quote: “A mobile strategy isn’t putting your station stream on the iPhone.”
It’s absolutely not enough and it’s not a mobile strategy, but on the other hand it’s a good first step towards one. The challenge is that long-term we know we can’t just take the same linear signal, put it on some other device and figure we’ve got a future. We have to ask what makes for a native mobile experience and then provide services that address it. We’re all getting fixated on this idea of apps and, from our point-of-view, we don’t need to necessarily jump onto that bandwagon in a crazy way without really understanding what unique service we are going to provide with the app. We think about mobile as a pyramid where at the very bottom it’s text-based services, then it’s mobile web opportunities, and at the very top it’s apps. All of us collectively get a little bit obsessed with the fad of the day, and to some extent, apps could be that, but we are just at the beginning of understanding what the opportunities are and what will make a compelling mobile experience for us.
And a concern has to be how you will ultimately profit from the app.
Right and monetizing mobile can be challenging. If you’re thinking about actionable mobile strategies, it’s really not about trying to monetize the fees you get off of SMS; it’s about sponsorship around it and integrated programs that are on-air and online. It’s getting a client into that whole integrated on-air, online SMS plan is where you’re going to make your money.
One thing I thought was great that Clive’s group is doing is a radio station morning show alarm clock app. It’s a fabulous idea because it allows radio to once again become the first thing you hear when you get up – turf the mediums been losing for some time now to breakfast TV and other services, and it reinforces morning show positioning. I think that’s a pretty good application of a mobile service via app.
Do you feel a power shift has occurred from radio’s omnipresent signal as a source of mobile entertainment to where you are now trying to satisfy the consumer by remaining relevant on all their different mobile devices?
That’s absolutely true. Our challenge as a broadcast medium is that we’re used to being in control and that’s what we’re good at. We’re used to a one-to-many communication, and that is contrary to the Internet where it’s not about tonnage but rather it’s about small groups of highly engaged people. It’s about them having control. It’s about their ability to personalize it. That’s where we need to go, but, to a great extent, we don’t know yet enough about the segments that makeup our audience to be able to provide a lot of really compelling experiences. We’re still on a learning curve. An app is really a highly personalized experience that speaks to a segment of our audience. A parable we use for our program directors is we’re always reminding them that Facebook isn’t a 350-million person social network, it is one million social networks of 350 people, and we need to start thinking about our audiences that way. We need to understand the small groups of people that make up our audience. Once we have a good handle on that, then we can start providing app experiences that can satisfy niche communities.
A big positive with mobile and digital experiences has to be better accountability for advertisers since you know how many people your e-mails are going out to or are using an app.
Yes. The challenge for radio though is that our online world is really about those small groups of highly engaged individuals, while agencies negotiate on tonnage, on cost-per-thousand. Our big opportunity is local, where we can address the marketing needs of our advertisers, who are typically looking for more than impressions. The beauty of our business is that we can use the megaphone of our airwaves to drive people to our web sites, where small groups of consumers who are actively interested in an offering engage with it. The impressions may not impress an agency, but an advertiser would be thrilled with a group of highly qualified prospects.
At another NAB panel, it was suggested that investing in exclusive digital content and ramping up sales efforts could increase the percentage of industry revenue derived from digital assets to 10-15% within five years. Where do you see sales growth coming for you?
We already know you can’t just take radio and turn it into an online stream and make it effective, so there’s an education process with the sales staff and each client. The most powerful opportunities are the integrated ones. Radio has the megaphone and mobile and interactive have groups of highly engaged people. The two of them together are a particular powerful combination and it’s a huge integrated sales opportunity.
How are your sales people starting to think differently along these lines?
We sell what we think of as engagement solutions. We deal very much at the local level and are identifying a client need and providing a solution with a measurable result of some sort. By necessity on mobile we do some campaigns on click-throughs. The good news, at least for now, is that click through rates are much higher on mobile than on web, so if you’ve got to monetize that way you’ve at least got some hope of generating a bit of revenue to cover your costs.
Are you fearful of the place Pandora and similar websites are taking on the competitive landscape?
Yes and no. Yes, because there are so many media choices, and if they are now a popular new media choice, then the market becomes that much more fragmented. And no, because it’s great for the people that want complete control through a music service without announcers. Now they have a service available to them, so good for them! But Pandora isn’t radio. Our experiment with ExploreMusic is really about the fact that we think the fundamental role of radio has not so much ever really been bout the song or the breaking news item but the ability to provide context, perspective and recommendation around them, and we all know that the best form of recommendation is from a trusted friend. We also know that in all of our markets our best personalities act as that trusted friend. So we think we have a real opportunity at this. We keep trying to get back to basics, remind ourselves of the service that our medium provides and innovate around that. We think our personalities are important. We want to extend them beyond the radio station and make them 24-7 brands. There’s a big opportunity there, and that’s part of radio’s future.
What is on your plate that takes up the majority of your time everyday?
Maximizing the revenue from our websites is a huge part of my day, and equally as large is thinking beyond the website, because ultimately we believe that our digital future may not necessarily have much to do with the website. It has to do with the translation of our fundamental services into this new realm. Our websites are an opportunity and we know we can do a better job generating revenue from them. We’ve been profitable with our Interactive Division in radio for the last five years. I don’t think that’s typical, so we’ve been doing a good job, but we also know that this isn’t really about our websites. Ultimately it’s about audio, it’s about the conversation and it’s about providing context and perspective. There’s a future for that, because as we’re all getting inundated with more and more information and people that can act as a trusted source for filtering through the bullshit are going to become more valuable, not less.
[eQB Content by Michael Parrish]
