Sirius to run two minute spots soon

Sirius Satellite Radio is readying two-and1/2-minute commercials on its 50+ non-music Sirius channels that carry advertising.

Sirius senior VP of advertising sales Sam Benrubi told attendees at the Gundersen Partners Power Breakfast this week that Sirius recently closed a campaign with a spirits company that involves a two and 1/2-minute spot. Music and imaging are major components of the ad, Benrubi said.

"Satellite radio offers more creativity for advertisers," Benrubi said.

"Advertisers can create one radio campaign for terrestrial radio and an edgier version for satellite, like they did years ago for different formats," said Terry O'Reilly, a partner with commercial production house Pirate Radio & Television.

Benrubi claimed that Stern's "loyal cadre of advertisers" are lining up to place buys on Stern's two Sirius channels. Benrubi said Stern will continue his hallmark of live reads but there will be fewer spots per hour than currently air on his terrestrial show.

Stern debuts on Sirius until January 2006.

We asked Matt Feinberg, SVP/National Radio, Zenith Media Services, what he thought about the move: "I think it's a great play. To me, it's a challenge to advertisers and creative, but a real opportunity. Even if they took this to some of their music channels as well, if you can create something that fits into the fabric of a format, you have the opportunity to really speak to the consumer in a whole different way. A lot of boutique creative places will really be able to get this done right."

Feinberg has not yet been approached by Sirius, but questions if this should also be floated for commercial stations: "This may be a pie in the sky thinking, but commercial stations have some problems right now. I don't know if it would work with them. I'm not opposed to the Less is More thinking (I'm not sure if the promise is really panning out) and I was never opposed to the length issue, but more the pricing and the overall reduction of clutter being really minimal (less length on each spot but more spots in general). But what if a commercial station went the opposite way and said 'We're going to give you and 2.5-minute pod?' It would be an interesting proposition for an FM station to take 12 minutes of commercial an hour in three pods and maybe make two of those pods long-form commercials. I don't know if it makes sense from a sales perspective, but with the right creative, who knows?"