As election season comes into full swing, everyone is looking to get a piece of the advertising revenue pie. E-marketer has forecast political spending to pass $12 Billion or triple the 2016 election spending. While radio historically has received less than 3%, Cumulus Media and Westwood One’s Chief Insights Officer Pierre Bouvard believes there’s great advantage to selecting radio.
“What’s happening is they’re overspending on linear TV,” Bouvard told Barrett Media. “They’re overspending on YouTube and Facebook and underspending on radio, underspending on podcast. So, there are great opportunities to reduce frequency and grow reach by reallocating the excess of spending on TV into podcast and radio.”
With no Democratic primary, the bulk of election spending will be in the latter part of this year. Another notable difference from 2016 and 2020 is that no billionaires tossed their hat into the political ring. Bouvard explained, “You had Michael Bloomberg coming in as an independent. There was another billionaire, Tom Steyer, also running. So, there was a lot of activity in the primaries four years ago. Obviously, there was very little activity in the primaries this year. So, year to date spending for radio is pretty light.”
Historically for radio the bulk of spending starts in October, and Bouvard believes it will come. “The one clue that we have is there’s been a huge amount of fundraising on both sides,” he said. “Harris just came off an eight-day, $325 million haul. Trump has obviously raised a lot. So, it bodes well.”
While early voting might change when spending happens, Bouvard noted to get those undecided independent voters you need radio. “Nielsen did a major study earlier this year, they revealed that if you want independent voters, if you want undecided voters, radio in the media plan drives significant reach with those people,” he said.
With podcasting becoming more popular, it could infringe on some of radio’s political revenue, but Bouvard believes there is one problem with political advertisements in podcasts. “You can geotarget to certain voting districts,” Bouvard explained. “The problem is, once you start narrowing down geographically, the impressions get pretty thin. But from a reach standpoint, podcasting has much more scale than it used to. I just don’t know how easy it is to buy for the campaigns.”
While 3% of the predicted $12 Billion is a pretty penny, everyone is reaching for more. Bouvard believes there is one way radio can grow the percentage points, saying “If local television and YouTube and Facebook truly get sold out in those battleground states, that will kind of be the driver, because unfortunately, we’re not considered a primary media platform for politics. We’re considered kind of a tertiary platform, or we’re considered a platform that solves small problems.”
Bouvard, a board member of the Library of American Broadcasting, noted that over the years money has gotten so much bigger, in part because of political PACs. “I think the difference from 40 years ago is you used to have the campaign, and they would raise money, and they would spend it,” he said. “Now you have political action committees that are raising money. You have all sorts of interest groups that are raising money and then turning around and spending that. So, the sources of fundraising have grown, and the volume of fundraising has grown.”
This means the everyday person, “[is] subjected to a barrage of TV ads and YouTube ads. I think while the media owners love it, I think everyday people kind of get overwhelmed with the political clutter.”
The passion Bouvard has for radio began in high school. “I was at a 10-Watt little radio station in Massachusetts and that kind of lit the excitement of radio,” he said. “I got part time summer jobs in Boston radio. I went to Northwestern and took communications classes and worked at the radio station there. And, while I was at Northwestern I interned at Arbitron in their Chicago office.”
Bouvard then worked under John Coleman, “who’s like the ‘Father of Radio Research.’ His next position was in the analytics arm of TiVo and then he had another stint at Arbitron before joining Westwood One almost 10 years ago.
Getting to the top is hard and the expert of insights offered three points of insight for those looking to succeed not just in the media industry but all industries. “The first major recommendation is read the trade publications of the industry you seek to enter. The reality is, most of what is taught at colleges and universities is not very up to date on what’s happening today in the industry. So, the smart way to really understand what’s happening right now in an industry is to read the trade publications.”
Bouvard notes this first step will do two things. “It will first tell you what companies you should be trying to get work within because you read about companies you maybe haven’t heard of in these trade publications. Secondly, when you interview, your knowledge of the industry and the current issues will make you stand out.”
“The second major recommendation that I have for people is join the industry associations. Every industry has multiple associations where they have conferences, webinars and opportunities to meet people in the industry. Not only do you learn what’s going on in the industry, but also you get to meet people and start your network and form relationships.”
Bouvard’s final recommendation comes from a venture capitalist column about ’50 cups of coffee.’ “Meet people in the industry, not to ask for a job, just to learn about what they do in their job? How does it work? Because what people don’t realize is how complex and how many jobs are available in an industry. And that helps build your network, but it also teaches you about the industry.”
Krystina Alarcon Carroll is a news media columnist and features writer for Barrett Media. She has experience in almost every facet of the industry including: digital and print news; live, streamed, and syndicated TV; documentary and film productions. Her prior employers have included NY1 and Fox News Digital and the Law & Crime Network. You can find Krystina on X (formerly twitter) @KrystinaAlaCarr.
