Can Jersey Radio execs re-invent themselves for a digital future? Is the golden age of advertising really over?
That hot topic was discussed on June 17 & 18 at Caesars in Atlantic City during the annual New Jersey Broadcasters Conference.
One of the scheduled speakers for the event was Radio & local media consultant; Gordon Borrell.
Borrell’s latest report called “Local Advertising Hits A Tipping Point” has New Jersey Radio and Newspaper execs sweating bullets and updating resumes.
A recent Borrell survey of small business shows that many will increase their digital budgets and may soon abandon traditional media.
82% of small and mid-size businesses have already established their website or social media page. 72% are buying digital services to support those channels, spending more on those efforts than on basic advertising.
Today, in 2015, online media is now the big dog taking the largest share of ad budgets. Newspapers controlled once this position… but no more.
Borrell says traditional advertising channels — print, broadcast, outdoor and mail — will begin to look like niche support mechanisms to a local businesses’ digital marketing plan. “We are clearly at the end of Golden Age of Advertising.
While more advertisers plan to increase their overall ad spend over the next 12 months, the total number of advertisers who plan to use radio will drop drastically. For radio, Borrell says, 23% of the SMBs surveyed five years ago said they didn’t plan to buy any radio advertising. This year, 37% won’t buy radio. The average small business buys five different types of media in a given year, but could change, thinning out the weaker ad platforms. Yellow pages will be the first to disappear — perhaps altogether. Newspapers, local magazines and radio look to also be on that list.