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IHeartRadio sabotaging itself?

C

CentralFL

Yesterday I was listening to WJRR (on FM) and they were promoting the IHeartRadio app as usual, but there was a difference. The promo stated that "you will hear less commercials while listening to the I Heart app".

We all know that listening is shifting from over-the-air to streaming but why would they play fewer commercials online. It seems counter-productive.
 
I've heard the over-the-air promos that promote the "dozens of commercial free music stations" many times. Taglines like that will drive traffic to the app. And most people aren't using the app in the car, so if you're still listening to radio OTA, that's not likely to change just because you hear your station mention they have commercial free music on their app.
 
As a long time app user, with the "free" app you get hit with one or two pre-load video commercials before the stream starts - so they've already made a small bit of $ to start. Depending on the station, some of the local commercials are replaced with promo's for other IHeart streams/podcasts/etc. so technically it's fewer commercials but not more content. With the app as well, they have a "confirmed listener" with a "confirmed location" so some the ads are targeted at you - I've lived out of FL for years but listen to Orlando/Tampa stations at some breaks I get "local" vs. FL advertising.
 
I pay for the 'Plus' tier and on iHeart O&O music stations I get format specific fill songs during breaks. And when the spot break is over, the song finishes and then the rejoin plays and is not cut off and it's just on a buffered delay until I change the station.

That plus no pre-roll and no mid-show dynamic ad insertion on iHeart produced podcasts (of which there are two I listen to regularly) makes it a $5/month worth spending.
 
vw86 said:
I pay for the 'Plus' tier and on iHeart O&O music stations I get format specific fill songs during breaks. And when the spot break is over, the song finishes and then the rejoin plays and is not cut off and it's just on a buffered delay until I change the station.

That plus no pre-roll and no mid-show dynamic ad insertion on iHeart produced podcasts (of which there are two I listen to regularly) makes it a $5/month worth spending.
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I'm strongly considering it now - I HATE the dynamic ad insertion on Iheart podcasts I listen to. Thanks a lot for the info, I had no idea there was a paid option.
 
radiofan2023 said:
I'm strongly considering it now - I HATE the dynamic ad insertion on Iheart podcasts I listen to. Thanks a lot for the info, I had no idea there was a paid option.
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There's a local morning show podcast I listen to daily and I got tired of ads coming in in the middle of a sentence from the host. That alone is worth the $5 a month. The fill songs on OTA stations is an added bonus.
 
vw86 said:
There's a local morning show podcast I listen to daily and I got tired of ads coming in in the middle of a sentence from the host. That alone is worth the $5 a month. The fill songs on OTA stations is an added bonus.
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Can you download the “no dynamic ads” podcasts from the app too, or only stream them in the app?

Also, how do the Iheart talk stations fill for local ads on the paid version of the Iheart app?
 
radiofan2023 said:
Can you download the “no dynamic ads” podcasts from the app too, or only stream them in the app?

Also, how do the Iheart talk stations fill for local ads on the paid version of the Iheart app?
Click to expand...
You can download any podcast the app has. There are two that still have the dynamic insertion issue, I'm not sure where they are hosted, but they aren't iHeart. I still prefer iHeart over any other app to listen to podcasts though.

Not sure what the talk stations do for filler - I can't even remember the last time I listened to talk radio in any capacity!
 
vw86 said:
You can download any podcast the app has. There are two that still have the dynamic insertion issue, I'm not sure where they are hosted, but they aren't iHeart. I still prefer iHeart over any other app to listen to podcasts though.

Not sure what the talk stations do for filler - I can't even remember the last time I listened to talk radio in any capacity!
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Which two podcasts still have the dynamic ad insertions?

If I told you which Iheart podcasts I listen to (there are only 3), can you listen to & download an episode of them and tell me if they still have dynamic ad insertions on the paid version?
 
So does this mean that my radio show is reaching more listeners now, because of this advertisement? I feel like more people still listen to me when I'm on live every Friday on a non-iHeart radio station than online, although the streaming & replay numbers seems to be going up recently. I doubt my show has any ads inserted.
DJ Mo Radio on iHeart: DJ Mo Radio | iHeart
 
You would know if you had ads inserted in your podcast - it's something you would have set up with your host site. But iHeart is probably running a :30 preroll for anyone that may listen via the free version of the iHeart app
 
I can confirm that there are no preroll ads inserted in my podcast.
 


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