As political advertising ramps up with the midterm elections less than two months away, the focus moves to how campaigns can find voters who still need to hear the message, or supporters who need to be reminded to turn intention into action. According to a report from iHeartMedia, audio media can make the difference when it comes to incremental voter reach, as in the number of new voters a campaign reaches beyond those already exposed to its ads. In a campaign’s final stretch

The Federal Communications Commission is urging a federal appeals court not to force it to rule this week on the latest challenge to its political advertising rate policy, arguing the Democrats seeking a decision by Friday are trying to rush the agency while the general election is already underway. In a filing in federal appeals court late Tuesday, the Commission asked the Fourth Circuit to reject a request from Sherrod Brown, Jon Ossoff, Roy Cooper and Kristen McDonald Rive

The long-running push to keep AM radio in vehicle dashboards cleared a major hurdle Tuesday as the House passed the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (H.R. 979) by voice vote, capping months of lobbying efforts by the industry that had attracted more than 300 co-sponsors for the bill. The legislation will direct the Department of Transportation to require AM reception as standard equipment in new passenger vehicles sold in the U.S. For Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), the bill’s lead

The Podcast Study 2026 finds that host relationships remain a central factor in podcast consumption, advertising effectiveness and potential new revenue streams. Strategic Solutions Research Partner Hal Rood and Point-To-Point Marketing Owner and CEO Tim Bronsil presented the first findings from the national study at the Sounds Profitable Business Summit. The presentation, titled “The Podcast Study 2026: Buying Trust, Not Just Reach,” examined how the relationship between pod

After 30 years of national syndication, Now Media’s “Bob & Sheri Show” has announced it will move from its currently free ad-supported model to a paid direct-to-listener subscription service starting in January 2027. Host Sheri Lynch and Now Media Director of Syndication Tony Garcia made the announcement Monday (Sept. 14) on the show’s “Oddcast” podcast, noting that since launching Now Media in 2017, ad revenue for “Bob & Sheri” has seen a significant 20% to 40% decline, whil

The post-Labor Day political advertising rush has arrived, bringing a wave of spending that could make the next seven weeks especially lucrative for radio and other local media in the country’s most heavily contested markets. AdImpact reports $510 million in political advertising aired nationwide during the first two weeks of September alone. Texas and Ohio each attracted more than $70 million, while Cleveland was the nation’s biggest local market with $19.6 million, followed

iHeartMedia is making the case that Super Bowl LXI in Los Angeles is a major opportunity for brands to reach consumers through audio, podcasts, streaming, influencers and live experiences. The company notes that the NFL reaches 205 million fans in the U.S., making football one of the nation’s most powerful cultural forces. For marketers, iHeartMedia argues that audio offers a way to connect with those fans through trusted personalities and programming across broadcast radio,

The fight over which political advertisers qualify for radio and television stations’ lowest unit ad rate is already back before a federal appeals court, just days after the Supreme Court weighed in with a ruling that impacts who broadcasters must give the discounted rates to. Four Democratic candidates are taking a new route in their challenge to the FCC’s expanded lowest unit rate policy, asking the Fourth Circuit to force the Commission to issue a final decision that could

Various research studies show that return on investment is not the profit generator marketers believe it to be. According to the Institute for the Practitioners of Advertising, since COVID, advertising ROI has improved by 4% while ad-driven profit has declined 11%. “The data reveals a dangerous trend: advertising is getting less effective,” Cumulus Media/Westwood One Audio Active Group Chief Insights Officer Pierre Bouvard says in Westwood One’s blog. “The advertising world’s

Nielsen has won a temporary reprieve from a federal judge’s order requiring it to make Cumulus Media a new offer for Nationwide ratings, with the Second Circuit putting the order — and its daily penalties for noncompliance — on hold while it considers Nielsen’s latest appeal. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit granted Nielsen an emergency administrative stay last week, one day after U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas issued an order escalating the long-running