Pre-roll ads

[wadio]

Let me start by saying that I've seen research supporting the use of pre-roll ads. But the stats might not tell the whole story. Here are three downsides:

1) Pre-roll ads are annoying. Listeners want to get right the programming. After a few tune-ins they'll catch on that the pre-rolls are blocking it. That might not put them in the right mood to embrace what's being advertised.

2) Pre-roll ads impede programming "discovery." They make channel-surfing slow and annoying. Internet streaming should be a good user experience and fun to use.

3) More and more radio streams have started to use pre-roll ads. Here's another negative I found recently. I was mowing my lawn the other day while listening to a station with pre-roll ads on my phone through Bluetooh earbuds. Every time I reached the end of a row and turned around, a pre-roll ad interrupted the programming. Turns out my phone was switching between the 2.4GHz and 5GHz channels of my mesh router. With a normal stream that causes an almost unnoticeable glitch, as I confirmed by switching to a station without pre-rolls. But the interruption is enough to trigger pre-rolls. There are many other causes of momentary dropouts. My solution is to avoid stations with pre-rolls.

Sometimes too much tweaking of the bottom line can cause reaching a point of diminishing returns due to unintended consequences. This may be a good example.

 

[davideduardo]

Excellent observations. Every streaming manager at a radio group owner should read that. And every independent or small broadcaster should consider it when selecting a streaming provider.

When I try to listen to a stream that starts with an ad, unless I am really motivated, I leave instantly and never listen to the content.

 

[TheBigA]

Sometimes too much tweaking of the bottom line can cause reaching a point of diminishing returns due to unintended consequences. This may be a good example.

How much would you be willing to pay to avoid pre-rolls? Personally I'd rather have your credit card number than run a pre-roll.

What I see is if I don't run my ad first, I will lose you completely, because a lot of users only listen for 5 minutes and then move on.

Keep in mind the YouTube uses pre-rolls, and they are the #1 source for audio content, so it can't be that bad.

 

[davideduardo]

How much would you be willing to pay to avoid pre-rolls? Personally I'd rather have your credit card number that run a pre-roll.

But if the business model is defective, the outcome will not be as good as the alternative.

Depending on how many people will not listen to the pre-roll and how many won't return after a while knowing that they will get a pre-roll, the actual listening to the stream may be so much lower that the in-content ads get far fewer listeners.

In that case, the pr-roll is causing more harm than good.

This is pretty easy to research, too.

 

[TheBigA]

But if the business model is defective, the outcome will not be as good as the alternative.

I don't care. The statistics are in my favor. People want everything for free. That's not a good business model.

When it's my store, I get to make the rules.

 

[wadio]

But if the business model is defective, the outcome will not be as good as the alternative.

Depending on how many people will not listen to the pre-roll and how many won't return after a while knowing that they will get a pre-roll, the actual listening to the stream may be so much lower that the in-content ads get far fewer listeners.

In that case, the pr-roll is causing more harm than good.

This is pretty easy to research, too.

Thank you David, that's exactly the point I was trying to make.

And YES, BigA, I would gladly PAY for a platform that would give me quick access to ALL terrestrial station streams in one place, and to create pre-sets. That's the way radio used to be. It worked then and would help radio to survive and thrive today, IMO.

 

[TheBigA]

And YES, BigA, I would gladly PAY for a platform that would give me quick access to ALL terrestrial station streams in one place, and to create pre-sets. That's the way radio used to be. It worked then and would help radio to survive and thrive today, IMO.

That may happen some day if the FCC and the DOJ allow one company to own everything. Until then, everyone has their own pay wall.

You're the guy who complains that spot breaks are too long and infomercials are annoying. Don't lie to me about how radio "used to be."

 

[wadio]

You're the guy who complains that spot breaks are too long and infomercials are annoying."

That's simply not true. Find an example of where I said that. Please stop the ad hominem attacks.

 

[TheBigA]

That's simply not true. Find an example of where I said that. Please stop the ad hominem attacks.

You make this WAY too simple. Here's one:

WCBS used to be my news station of choice but since they started adding "paid programming" to their schedule I switched to WINS for news instead.

 

[wadio]

You make this WAY too simple. Here's one:

I've never said that spot breaks are too long and I didn't say infomercials are "annoying," I just don't listen to them.

But this thread is not about me. You've detoured it with an hominem attack and I think you owe me an apology.

I'd like to hear what others have to say about the subject of pre-rolls.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Most streaming ad platforms aren't very well developed. I too have experienced the pre-roll ad which keeps running because the stream was briefly interrupted. I don't object to a single pre-roll ad when starting the stream, but this was definitely annoying.

My employer also briefly had a streaming provider that would randomly insert their own ads over top of our programming. That wasn't cool. I'm not sure it was intentional on the streaming provider's end, at least that's what they told the GM when he called to complain.

 

[TheBigA]

I've never said that spot breaks are too long and I didn't say infomercials are "annoying," I just don't listen to them.

You don't listen to them because you find them annoying. In other posts, you go on to say that news stations should only run news, not informercials.

You only asked for one example. You obviously need to see more.

 

[wadio]

My employer also briefly had a streaming provider that would randomly insert their own ads over top of our programming.

Interesting. Is it possible that he was experiencing the drop-out issue I mentioned? That could account for the random inserts. Did they fix the issue by changing the scheduling or by removing the pre-roll?

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

I don't care. The statistics are in my favor. People want everything for free. That's not a good business model.

When it's my store, I get to make the rules.

Also data collection is at play here. I remember pre-roll ads on stream has something to do with some advertisers wanting their ads to be limited to the local DMA and could only be heard in OTA and the national ads can be streamed on apps.