Ten Take Aways from Hivio Audio Future Festival (20-Somethings and Radio? See #8)

Audience, content and platforms – notably podcasting – were some of the more frequently discussed topics at the Hivio Audio Future Festival 2016 last week (see Hivio word cloud).

Mark Ramsey Media's annual Hivio event is a “hive” of audio ideas and actions shared by people who normally wouldn’t collectively make up a typical radio convention agenda – from NPR to ESPN to content providers to podcast sellers.

Becky Brenner (@BeckyBrenner) attended the LA event in person, I watched via the online stream (thanks, Mark for providing that!).

Here are ten of our takeaways:

1. Commercials: be relevant, funny and clever. Tell a story with a surprise. 15-second spots scored better than any other commercial length (Mark Ramsey and Novoodoo).
2. Apply the “rat in a maze” approach – allow audience to shift platforms but keep them on your content (Howard Lapidis)
3. The goal is to translate the best of what is happening in the talent’s life to Radio, TV and the web. Make a determination on how best to distribute content - from podcasts to building what the talent needs (Chris Balfe, Red Seat Ventures)
4. The focus on digital has been transformative – radio is an amazing medium and we can still be vital and fabulous. Podcasting is not detracting from the Radio Listening.  It is actually growing the audience. (Anya Grundman, VP Programming and Audience Development for NPR)
5. Rise above the noise by creating your own wave or riding waves around you. (Todd Beck, Beck Media and Marketing)
6. Podcasts are generally too long, not “social sized,” and it is an increasingly crowded universe (1,400 new podcasts per week) David Silverman Co-Founder Clammr
7. There is stupid money out there right now for these types of projects in video and audio. Peter Kafka, Senior Editor, Media, Re/Code
8. I don’t have a radio at home. Radio is ancient – it is like having a laser disc – I have so many ways to listen to radio without having to have another device.  Convenient and compact is what everything needs to be, nobody wants excess baggage. (Heather, Millennial)
9. Podcasting revenue been highly underrepresented in the press…probably $85-$100 million last year and it is going to be exponentially higher this year. Sarah Van Mosel, Chief Commercial Officer, ACAST @sarahvm
10. Content, Content, Content.  You can’t say it enough, or focus on it enough.  It was lost in deregulation and it has to come back into focus. (Advice for radio from Traug Keller, ESPN Audio

Albright & O’Malley & Brenner’s Becky Brenner has full notes and slides in the Clients Only section of AandOandB.com.

Comments paraphrased.