Is Google the answer?

Or, at least, an answer? Emmis Radio President Rick Cummings told analysts he had spoken to the Google/dMarc folks just a day earlier - and he was happy they told him they didn't want to do a group deal with his company, at least not right now. That's because they are still dealing with the massive group deal already cut with the biggest radio company of all, Clear Channel. Cummings called that "great thinking," because the Google execs don't want to flood the market with radio inventory.

Later in the call with analysts, CEO Jeff Smulyan was asked how radio can stop discounting and regain pricing power - and the conversation again turned to Google. Smulyan said Google/dMarc and their competitors in selling radio inventory to new advertisers via online marketplaces is one way to bring new advertisers to the medium. In Smulyan's view, that is one way to build demand, and only by building demand for inventory can radio put upward pressure on ad pricing.


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