Welcome to the “Best of JacoBLOG” as we sprint – or perhaps better put – stagger to the end of yet another challenging year. Today’s throwback post from 2024 ran last January, looking ahead to the new year. While it wasn’t designed to be predictive of 2024, it turned out to discuss some of the key issues many of us have faced these past 12 months. I hope you find it helpful, and maybe even fodder for how we’ll need to prepare ourselves for the year ahead.

What a year! In 2024, rapid advancements in AI reshaped content creation, audience engagement, and operational efficiency, presenting both opportunities and challenges for broadcasters. Major AI platforms launched transformative updates: OpenAI’s GPT-4o reduced inaccuracies and became freely accessible; Google released two updates to Gemini; and Meta and X introduced new tools. These developments expanded options for…

The only things worse than bad ratings is when your audience falls over that dreaded “demographic cliff.” The last thing a radio brand needs is a listener base that has “aged out.” Meanwhile over on television, some of the biggest new hits on broadcast TV and streaming video platforms stars gray-haired AARP members. What gives?

On-demand audio and video are advertiser darlings, while traditional media struggle to maintain their marketing relevance. Today’s #TBT from five years ago was about Netflix’s latest success, “The Irishman,” a Martin Scorsese gangster film being acclaimed as a “hit” – based on download data. It turns out the vast majority of those who started watching “The Irishman” never finished it. Today’s throwback blog post takes a look at the dichotomy between on-demand and traditional media as marketing vehicles and critical successes as we enter into what promises to be a challenging new year.

The media ecosphere is ever-changing and in a constant state of flux – with one exception. The popularity of Classic Rock – as music, a radio format, and as a prime part of our pop culture – is a constant. And today’s blog post is evidence of that – three remarkable stories from the “Classic Rock Highway.” Enjoy the ride.