Perhaps you tuned in to one of the many NFL games on the radio this past weekend. If you did, the odds are good that you also heard a Howard Stern-voiced Sirius commercial while listening to your favorite NFL team‘s broadcast. (If you haven’t heard these spots, you can listen below.)
Sirius has apparently bought an advertising package for the next five weeks, targeted to run during NFL radio broadcasts. Not surprisingly, they promote Sirius, while knocking broadcast radio for censoring content and just being dull. And of course, they’re stealthily using broadcast radio stations – the same ones they want to put out of business – to spread the word.
NFL affiliates can push back and protest these commercials, but my bet is that in many markets, the PDs and GMs didn’t hear about these spots from their traffic departments. Thus, another embarrassing episode for terrestrial radio, while satellite continues to market wherever and whenever they wish. You can only imagine how the employees of these flagship stations and their hundreds of affiliates must feel when they air, not to mention what the audience is thinking.
Please forward this blog to stations (GMs/PDs) who carry NFL games. Sirius has every right to cleverly promote itself, but to let them get away with this on broadcast radio makes no sense. The NFL should know better, and have a little respect for flagships and affiliates who do the heavy lifting every weekend.
GREAT post Fred and point well taken! How amazing that those spots could run on a terrestrial radio station!
However, let’s not forget the incredible job done by the HD radio alliance during the 4 day holiday shopping time over Thanksgiving and the “Black Friday” shopping period.
You may recall that true to their world, during that same period in 2006, they said “just wait until next year” and while you couldn’t turn on a TV without seeing a well produced and creative Sirius and XM TV spot, the HD radio alliance TV campaign to promote this cutting edge and vital new technology was…..er, ah, um…..
Nevermind.
I recall 3-4 years ago a conversation I had with one of my regional big company regional programmers regarding XM and Sirius spots running on the stations I was responsible for.
I just couldn’t understand why we were running them. He explained it the best he could – holding the company line that it was a different medium and mentioned that even HBO advertises on terrestrial television.
The bottom line is that the money won. Our industry leadership has decided that we can be bought, no matter how much it hurts our future.