Short-Form Syndication

[qwezxc]

Hello all ... I have a short-form feature I already do on a single station (weekly) which I'm interested in attempting to syndicate as a daily feature. While there's a lot of info out there about long-form syndication there doesn't seem to be as much about short-form.

A few questions to anyone who might be able to help:

(1) What is the market like right now for short-form shows?

(2) I'd envision the feature to be :90 with a :30 barter ad (2-minutes total) ... is that too long, too short, just right?

(3) For a variety of reasons I won't get into here, I actually feel rather confident about my ability to secure an advertiser myself, assuming I could have somewhere between 20-40 affiliates (is that an unrealistic expectation for a vignette?). However, I don't feel as confident about my ability to secure affiliates. This is kind of a cart-and-horse dilemma ... would my best bet be to try to proceed lining up affiliates on my own, would I be better off trying to get a syndicate to work with me (or is that not even realistic given the current market)? (To further clarify, I feel extremely unprepared and unqualified to handle some of the back-end, contractual issues related to affiliate management and would be thrilled to work with a syndicate even if it meant a diminished personal return.)

Many thanks in advance -

 

[R Dub!]

As I'm sure you know, short-form content is more prevelant on talk stations vs. music stations. Besides "MTV News," and some morning show short-form content, music stations don't run much short-form stuff, where as in the world of talk, it's plentiful (opinion pieces, financial minutes, etc.) There's always a market for "good" content.

Your 90 second content to 30 second spot sounds right.

If you can secure advertising yourself, that is great--since you won't lose the high commission rate the ad firms take off the top. That would be a huge bonus...I also think that's the hardest thing to do...but if you can do it, more power to you. As far as securing affiliates, if you're really adamant about not doing it yourself, you could always hire an independent to work your show to stations; Lord knows there are good people out of work right now. It's hard to find a syndication house that will take on a new show with little of no affiliates, so the best bet is to build that station list up first, then shop for a deal.

Best of luck!

 

[bturner]

I think there is a need for short form programming. I see fewer 'fixed time' pieces but find 60 second 'play when avails are present' being a growing trend.

So, perhaps, in addition to the 2 minute version, a sixty second with 10 or 15 second commercial, especially for talk/sports/news radio might be a very good idea. You might not have 6a to 7p weekday plays very often, but you might get multiple 7p to 6a and weekend plays in major markets and daily airings in medium and small markets. This makes affiliation agreements a bit tricky, but if you can get some form of verification it could work well for you...possibly attracting a bigger client that understands impressions made even in non-prime has lots of value.

 

[Jay Peninger]

Not sure what kind of content you are talking about putting out there in your :90 spots but I know that my station would be very receptive to something like that provided it was a good fit with our Active Rock audience.

 

[qwezxc]

Thanks so much for all these very helpful responses.

(1) While it's an, admittedly, fluffy feature it's definitely - in terms of content and tone - geared more to a News-Talk format. Really, almost to the exclusion of anything else. I wish it had more legs, I'm just not pretending it probably does.

(2) Where might one go to find an independent experienced in affiliation? Also, how are payment arrangements for that usually handled?

(3) When soliciting affiliates is it advisable to be producing an ongoing quantity of content that they can start to run at any point or is it reasonable or realistic to set a "start date" and begin soliciting affiliates a month or two in advance, for a new feature? By this I mean can I promote my feature as (for instance) "available beginning October 1" and sign-up affiliates based only off a week's worth of demos? How does that usually get handled?

(4) Is there any marketability for weekly - as opposed to daily - short-form features on News-Talk format stations? I had considered the idea of starting with a weekly feature to build up a few affiliates before ramping up to daily? However, I assumed that (a) there aren't many news-talk stations left that have original, weekend programming which - I assume - is where this would end up being slotted in, and, (b) 2-minutes of airtime in a 1 week schedule is probably too tiny for a PD to be bothered with?

 

[whitakermk]

I can tell you what I have learned.

I have a 2 minute short format quick cooking tip that I give free to stations. It has a built in 30 second spot for my cookbooks. Mostly home style cooking, grilling, barbecue, tailgating. All of the tips are easy, and some shows were about Gulf Oil seafood.

I send out two tips every week via email - MP3, but also upload some to FTP servers.

I started out with something set in my mind but now things are a lot more eased up, on my end. My stations can cover my spot with one of their own, Part15 stations or Community stations can cover the spot with a community announcement. They can run them when ever they want, once a week, all day long, filler in the overnight etc, etc. Some just use it on their website.

I make it usable for talk, sports, Americana, rural etc, faith, small market. I don;t focus on one format. But with my short its possible, might not apply to yours.

I think I've learned that allowing the stations to use it almost like free clip art for a newspaper works best. I try my best to be fresh, on time etc. The few times when I was on vacation or my wife had surgery I planned in advance to have extra's email, even did a command performance for a few tips that generated some emails.

I use mine simply as a service to stations, I worked a a small market and know budgets suck, but it helps me get my name out as well. By no means am I making money off of it, I guess if I sold a national sponsor I could.

Keep it easy for stations to use, Make yourself available for call is if appropriate, listen to station suggestions, keep it reliable and fresh. And don't have too many pipe dreams.

Hope this helps in some small way - Kent Whitaker
[email protected]

 

[R Dub!]

That's smart advice. I too started my syndicated show (now heard in 50+ markets) strictly for the "love" of the product/service. I didn't ever expect to make money, but like the old saying goes, "Do what you love and the money will follow."

To answer qwezxc's questions above:

1) Where might one go to find an independent experienced in affiliation? Also, how are payment arrangements for that usually handled?

I haven't done this yet...but it is something I've always considered. I already have money coming in, so it's a little easier for me to do this...in my particular case, I would find a record exec who is out of work and put him on retainer to get affiliates. Good record execs are well connected...the hardest thing to do is get PD's on the phone, and a good record exec with relationships can do that all day. Obviously, the talk format doesn't use "record" execs...so I would maybe find an ex-affiliate relations guy/gal from one of the big companies and give them some sidework. You can either pay a flat fee, or pay commissions, or both. Of course it will depend on your individual budget and situation. My point here is that now is the time--there are so many talented people out of work, you should be able to have a surplus of folks qualified who would want to pick up some side change.

2) When soliciting affiliates is it advisable to be producing an ongoing quantity of content that they can start to run at any point or is it reasonable or realistic to set a "start date" and begin soliciting affiliates a month or two in advance, for a new feature? By this I mean can I promote my feature as (for instance) "available beginning October 1" and sign-up affiliates based only off a week's worth of demos? How does that usually get handled?

Better to have something already airing, or ready to air immediately, but I've done the "available beginning October 1st" thing before and had no problems.

3) Is there any marketability for weekly - as opposed to daily - short-form features on News-Talk format stations? I had considered the idea of starting with a weekly feature to build up a few affiliates before ramping up to daily? However, I assumed that (a) there aren't many news-talk stations left that have original, weekend programming which - I assume - is where this would end up being slotted in, and, (b) 2-minutes of airtime in a 1 week schedule is probably too tiny for a PD to be bothered with?

Not sure, but I tend to agree on a weekly 2-minute feature being "too tiny to bother with" too.