The Jacobs Media Blog

Over the course of the last several months, we have addressed the changing consumer mindset when it comes to instant-gratification. You know the phenomenon as “skipping.” Bill Jacobs wrote about it last in a post about song skipping. I followed that up with a “Welcome to the Skiposphere” post that provided more thoughts about how […]

There’s not a day that goes by where radio isn’t being attacked or under fire by the likes of Pandora, satellite radio, on-demand elements like podcasts, and even the renaissance of television. It’s a challenge for a medium – as well as the many great AM and FM radio stations that have been a part […]

We all know the phrase, “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.” It’s credited to one of the greatest showmen and publicity hogs of all time, P.T. Barnum. There are exceptions, of course. One of these was noted by Irish writer Brendan Behan who opined, “…except your own obituary.” And then there’s Brian Williams who […]

We continue to hear from people in the media and advertising communities bloviate about how “no one listens to the radio anymore.” And some of this talk is reinforced in casual conversations at middle school football games, on airplanes, and pretty much everywhere you go.  Like anything else, the more people hear it, the more they believe […]

We all see more research in a week than we used to see in a year. Everyone’s producing data, polls, charts, and graphs that are meant to explain what’s really going on in our media and technology lives. And there’s more to come. In the coming weeks, Techsurvey11 will be rolling out with some amazing […]

Keeping up with the rapid pace of change is challenging to everyone working in radio – not to mention everyone making a living in media, whether it’s about producing information and entertainment on the one hand, or revenue generation on the other.  Keeping up with technology – whether it is content, distribution, or monetization – can seem like […]

Donald Trump has “popularized” one of the most feared two-word combinations in the English language. And even though it seems to happen to just about everybody at one point or another – sometimes multiple times – in a career, it’s never an easy pill to swallow. From rejection to confusion to anger to disbelief, the […]

What makes something valuable? Is it strictly based on cost, or the quality, or the time it took to make it? And what makes one branded item more valuable than another? Is a Porsche a better car than a Corvette? Is a Harley a better motorcycle than a Honda? And would you pay more for a night […]

Many years ago, Coleman Research (now Coleman Insights) came up with a breakthrough idea after years of conducting audience surveys for stations throughout North America and the world.  Realizing that all images aren’t created equal, the Coleman team developed a unique tool that has provided incredible perspective for programmers, marketers, and managers. The Image Pyramid […]

It’s pretty amazing watching the results of Techsurvey11 rolling in.  Like the returns on election night, you can literally track the results as they come in and start the obligatory comparisons to the results from previous years. We’re not quite done yet, but with more than 36,000 in-tab interviews collected, you have a pretty good idea […]

You might not have known it from last night’s spectacular halftime performance in “The Big Game,” but Katy Perry has some major issues to sort through. So does Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, and Ariana Grande. (Maybe not Taylor Swift.) That’s because something statistically scary happened in 2014 that has never happened before since that advent of […]

You might not have known it from last night’s spectacular halftime performance in “The Big Game,” but Katy Perry has some major issues to sort through. So does Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, and Ariana Grande. (Maybe not Taylor Swift.) That’s because something statistically scary happened in 2014 that has never happened before since that advent of […]

Stories are memorable. Ratings – not so much. As the advertising world moves inexorably toward heavy reliance on metrics and ROI, what will separate the winners from the losers? With programmatic buying, why will we even need salespeople when computers are talking to computers? In fact, the most profitable media outlets will contain a combination of […]

Most radio companies are going through flattish times, but that is not the case for the automotive industry – radio’s top revenue category. Yes, most car companies are having record years as the recovery from the Great Recession continues. And the “connected car” revolution is projected to continue at high rates of speed.  eWeek is reporting […]

You can see it happening pretty much every day in the news – the automotive space is experiencing a renaissance largely due to its new love affair with technology and electronics. We’ve talked extensively on this blog about CES a couple weeks back. And last week, it was the North American International Auto Show – […]