Susan
More to marketing. Welcome to more to marketing, our podcast on marketing, product and everything in between. I’m your host, Susan, and today we’re actually going to be talking about the first advertisements on radio that would be a nice thing to go back and see the past and where some of the advertising first started. So we’re going to embark on this journey. I’m going to explore the fascinating world of first advertisements on radio from the US, UK and Australia, so sit back, relax, and we’ll dive into some history. Let’s start with the USA with Radio, broadcasting was flourishing in the early 1920s. This era. The first advertisements on radio took the form of sponsorship programmes. Companies would sponsor entire shows, integrating their messages within the content. One notable example from the USA is the Atkins Opel Hour, which aired in the 1922. This weekly show, sponsored by Atkins Opal Car dealership, featured live music, comedy sketches and engaging storytelling, all seamlessly woven with mentions of the dealership and its products. The reaction in the early days of Arabia and. The US was a bit mixed. Some listeners welcome this sponsorship programmes and they realised that there was a need for advertising to support and sustain their favourite programmes. However, there were also the critics who believe that the intrusion of commercial interests compromise the authenticity and artistic integrity of the programmes themselves. We’ll jump across the sea and we’ll go to the UK. Where the introduction of radio advertising sparked debate regarding the potential influence of programming content. Some expressed concerns that the commercial interests might compromise the BBCC’s commitment to public service broadcasting. In the early days. Nevertheless. As always, pretty much the financial benefits of commercial advertising convince the BBC to explore this revenue stream. Shifting now to Australia. The early days of radio advertising followed a pattern similar to the US and the UK. The first advertisements we integrate into sponsorship programmes. One of the early ones is an example from Australia in the home. And away hour. Sponsored by a local department store in the 1920s, show featured music, storytelling and mentions of the store and its offerings. In Australia, radio advertising was met with both enthusiasm and naturally, scepticism. Listeners appreciate the entertainment value provided by the sponsored programmes, but some expressed concern about the influence of advertising on the content and quality. Of the shows. Unfortunately, details of the actual sales information specific for these radio shows isn’t available. It’s pretty scarce. It’s been quite a while. And there’s also limited measures for the tools and methodologies back in that time, however. We can say from radio advertising still being around today, it is evident that advertising did reach a potential audience that was large and engaging. Today. Podcast advertising is one of the new evolutions in this type of radio verbal genre. And some of them. Some of the potential cost structures are very interesting to see. From normal nutrition radio through the podcasting, there’s still sponsorship opportunities as well as advertising opportunities. Where them going from anywhere from $10 all the way to hundreds of thousands of dollars, depending on the show and time. Of Year of. Course, I hope you find this. Episode a bit interesting. One of the key call outs I will say is how do you actually measure success? For podcasting type of advertising and online advertising where you’ve got the verbal medium, it’s usually downloads per episode times 1000 times your cost per impression, the CPM. Otherwise, for radio it’s very very similar to that as well. It’s just about how you want to engage it and what you’re selling at that time as well. And usually you can see if you have on and off periods of promotions, you’ll see that nice spike coming through to and that’s when you can attribute it to whatever you’re doing at that time. Real advertising began really began in the 1920s, and that’s when we saw this exciting new era where sponsorship advertising first began to flourish before it turned into full blown advertising later. I hope you’ve enjoyed this different episode of more to marketing. If you remember any examples that really resonate with you or that you have heard of from those eras, please shout out. Love to hear more about them. Don’t forget to follow more to marketing for more podcasts. More to marketing.
