Thursday, March 30, 2006
Radio & Records

And advertisers are beginning to differentiate Clear Channel stations from others, company CEO Mark Mays told attendees of the Bank of America Media Conference in New York this morning.

Mays says the reduced spot policy is helping CC stations "retain audiences" and that advertisers are increasingly accepting of the new way of doing business. "We are starting to get them off of a flat-out [cost per minute] buy."

Mays says the company's campaign to reduce inventory while maintaining revenues is succeeding. He notes that Clear Channel has "20% fewer commercials than other radio companies" and that "we would like to create more demand than we have today," but still, sales are picking up. "We are winning new clients every day. The good news today is our inventory is down, our revenue is up."

Mays believes there is growing support for 30-second spots by advertisers who are discovering that they are "more efficient and less expensive for them. The ultimate way that an advertiser tells whether his advertising is working is whether they sell product."

— Jeffrey Yorke, R&R Washington, DC Bureau