Is It Time For Howard Stern To Podcast?
Sep 26th, 2006 | By James Lewin | Category: Audio Podcasting, Making Money with Podcasts 
Advertising Age reports that, eight months into his reign at Sirius Satellite Radio, the Stern’s advertising rates are a fraction of what they were on terrestrial radio.
“Spots are going for $5,000 to $6,000, with live reads, the term for on-air talent pitching the product, maxing out at $10,000,” notes Advertising Age. “When Howard Sterns show was broadcast on terrestrial radio stations, he commanded $30,000 for a live read.”The site attributes Stern’s declining value to advertisers to a smaller audience, and questions about just how many listeners Stern now has.
“Exactly how much smaller is his Sirius audience than the crowd of 7 million listeners he drew on terrestrial?” the article continues. “No one knows, because no one knows how many are listening to his satellite program, which also, of course, makes a cost-per-thousand comparison impossible. And it seems even the all-powerful Mr. Stern isnt above the accountability required to play in todays media world.”
A smaller audience and Sirius’ hesitation to provide measurable data could ultimately reduce Stern’s influence. While Stern’s deal with Sirius promises him millions, if he fails to get listeners or advertisers, it could damage his career.
As podcasting’s popularity grows, and Sirius continues to bleed money, Stern may soon be wondering if he would be better off with a free, ad-supported podcast that anyone could listen to or subscribe to over the Internet.
Howard Stern got $30,000 one time back in the 90s for an on-air read ad. Their rate the rest of the time was comparable to what they charged on terrestial radio. This is a stroy created by terrestial radio interests on par with the John Mainelli article that got him canned from the post earlier this week.
Please do some research before posting news instead of just grabbing a headline off the wire.
PodcastRant
Do you think Stern’s ad time is worth what it was a year ago? That doesn’t make much sense to me, because his audience is a fraction of what it was a year ago, and it only makes sense that advertisers would only be willing to pay a fraction of what they paid a year ago.
What do you think of the viability of a Stern podcast? I think that he would quickly have the most popular podcast in the world, and that he’d have no problem getting advertisers.
For those of you that don’t know, The Howard Stern Show is streaming online, 24 hours a day on The Sirius Satellite homepage. Podcasting the Stern show would never work, it would end up being a 5-6 hour show, and would take away from the “live” feel of the show.