Podcasters and broadcasters working in sports and news explored how to customize content for individual platforms Wednesday at NAB Show New York with the consensus that what’s a hit for one can be a major flop on another. The session, part of the Radio and Podcast Interactive Forum, stressed the importance of editing and the need for multi-platform approaches to maximize reach, along with the growing role of AI in enhancing efficiency.
After first striking out with repurposing sports radio content on YouTube, Beasley Media Group’s “98.5 The Sports Hub” WBZ-FM got some expert advice and has significantly grown viewership, said Mary Menna, Regional VP/Market Manager for the group’s Boston cluster. “The editing is just so important because it's so easy to just swipe out,” she told the NAB Show New York crowd. Starting with a traditional radio show could send viewers to the exits in two or three seconds, she warned. “You have to edit really tight and get to the point a lot faster when you're using that medium,” Menna said.
Thumbnails and captions are also important on YouTube. “Think New York Post: Tom Brady bombs in first Fox game – that grabs anybody that doesn't know your brand but is looking for Tom Brady, and it captures that algorithm,” Menna added. “Now all of a sudden, you've got discovery with people that didn't know 98.5 The Sports Hub.”
With play-by-play rights for multiple teams, including the Boston Celtics, conflicts aren’t unusual at The Sports Hub which finds solutions by leveraging other platforms. When the NFL Draft fell on the same night as a Celtics playoff game, the station did a live draft show on YouTube with a personality from a casino.
After starting out with just one YouTube channel, The Sports Hub is now launching sub-channels for individual sports. Menna said they’ve grown to almost 25,000 subscribers within six months intending to reach 100,000, the threshold for being verified by YouTube.
Content That ‘Lives Everywhere’
When the soccer-centric Men in Blazers podcast network scores an interview with an A-list athlete, like it did recently with Mohamed Salah of the Premier League club Liverpool, it aims to have it live everywhere – in a format appropriate for each platform. “How do you take [that] interview and make it pop everywhere – that’s something that we've been grappling with,” said Jonathan Williamson, Executive Producer & Head of Production for the network. Is it an image, an audio clip, a video clip? And how is it edited and packaged so it trips the platform’s algorithm. Starting a clip with a video of an incredible goal is a no-brainer, he suggested. “In those first few seconds, which are so crucial, we want to hook people, and that that's a way in,” Williamson said. “Then what's the punchline? We want to end on a high note so it doesn't just fall off the cliff.”
Technology advances, including rapidly growing artificial intelligence, are making it easier for creators to deliver content in more places, noted Sarah Foss, Chief Technology Officer at Audacy. The trick is slicing and dicing a podcast to derive nuggets that, when heard on a social media platform or TikTok, compel consumers to seek out more of it. “What we have now is ubiquity and that means that as long as the content is outstanding, the engagement is going to be high, and we should be able to see the business results,” she elaborated. “The technology is going to continue to get faster and better at creating content, repurposing content, measuring the content, and ensuring that those listeners can find us wherever we are.”
Tread Lightly With AI
While voicing serious concerns about the fast march toward AI in media, especially in a news environment Liz Alesse, VP of ABC Audio at ABC News, said it offers tools and capabilities to parse through reams of vital information and generate content faster. But newsrooms need to tread lightly and “pressure test everything from every angle,” she cautioned. “It's going to change everything and make us better at what we do if we apply it responsibly, and certainly we're taking a very conservative, thoughtful approach to it,” she said. Transcribing and processing information faster “can be game-changing, especially in an emergency or in this fast paced news environment,” Alesse predicted.
So where is the opportunity for audio brands moving forward, asked panel moderator Jason Barrett, President at Barrett Media. Digital, answered Foss, clarifying that means seamless multiplatform distribution where the listener can enjoy a cohesive, engaging experience from the smart speaker to the web, to broadcast radio, to Apple CarPlay. “I believe strongly that the reason audio is so important is because people just like what we do – engaging with our personalities, getting the news – and that's not going to change, whether it's digital or good old-fashioned radio.”
That said, Foss argued that radio has not harnessed technology as effectively as video and social media have. Taking better advantage of tech will allow radio programming to live in more places while remaining intimate, she said.
If all of this feels like broadcasters and podcasters are constantly chasing the next big thing, Men In Blazer’s Williamson (who was not wearing one) said he takes solace in the reality that great storytelling never goes out of style. “The way we package it will and we're constantly looking for ways to repackage it that fit the algorithm, that fit the platform.”
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