Neal Schore

Suffice it to say, digital is not just an adjunct to over-the-air radio; it has evolved and grown into an essential complementary platform that can help radio optimize results for its advertisers and its own coffers. Neal Schore has pretty much been in this since the beginning. Founding Triton Digital almost 11 years ago, Schore had built a service to enhance radio's digital potential, most recently locking into the revenue potential of podcasting. Here, Schore describes how Triton can impact radio's digital world in 2017 and beyond.

What were you doing before you founded Triton, and what made you decide to start the company?

I'm fortunate to have a diverse background, with more than 25 years of experience in media, mostly in radio. Prior to founding Triton nearly 11 years ago, I served as Managing Partner and CEO of Midway Marketing Group, LLC, a media advisory firm servicing the private equity community to build, expand, finance and manage media operations throughout the U.S. Prior to that, I was the founding President of Brite Media Group, a specialty out-of-home advertising company. I started my career at Interep, where I served in several capacities over my nine-plus years there. I also served as Chairman of the Board and Director of Westwood One, Inc. (formerly Dial Global, Inc), prior to selling Westwood One to Cumulus. My love and passion for radio and digital audio led me start thinking about digital audio in 2002 and then to embark on the founding of Triton Digital in 2006.

Are you surprised at the evolution of audio's digital space?

Absolutely -- the evolution of digital audio over the last five years or so has been quite fascinating. It initially came into focus around 2000, largely as a component of video and the start of mobile. It wasn't until a few years later when it began to turn heads as a potentially powerful standalone channel, with consistent listener growth year after year. Unlike many other channels, digital audio didn't emerge with any roadmap or rules of engagement, so the major players that embraced the channel early on had the privilege of shaping and promoting the tremendous value that digital audio holds, which we were proud to help pioneer, and remain a significant part of today.

How has digital evolved, specifically as it pertains to radio?

Between 2006 and 2009, digital audio was primarily perceived as futuristic by the traditional radio industry. It was certainly acknowledged, but many broadcasters were understandably unsure of how to leverage the new opportunity, and were hesitant to experiment with anything that may potentially impact their over-the-air business. In 2010, however, a few large broadcasters began to rapidly advance streaming to help grow their listening audience. Within a year or two, they began to see an ROI on their investment, building a business within a business by leveraging streaming audio to expand their content programming, attract new audiences, heighten their brand awareness and eventually begin generating incremental revenue through in-stream advertising. Through this evolution, digital has truly become a complementary, highly beneficial extension of traditional radio broadcasting.

Was there ever a point when you worried that digital wasn't going to pay off?

I'd be lying if I told you I had never questioned my sanity when we launched Triton nearly 11 years ago. At the time, we were very ahead of our time! That said, the strength of our company has always been our ability to keep a finger on the pulse of the audio industry. We apply all our learnings and the knowledge gained from our experience and place in the ecosystem to provide all broadcasters and audio publishers across the globe with the innovative technology and guidance necessary to take advantage of the wide array of monetization and growth opportunities that digital audio provides.

Can Triton measure the popularity of certain types of digital content?

Each month we distribute a Top 20 Ranker, which is a list of the top performing digital audio publishers and networks as measured by the MRC-accredited Webcast Metrics(r) audience measurement platform. The Ranker includes global and U.S. listening, as well as insights into listening trends. As part of these insights, we report on the digital audio content formats with the largest listening gains month over month, i.e. Country, News/Talk, Classic Rock, etc.

Describe Triton's relationship with advertisers.

Consumers today are incredibly mobile. They listen to audio when and where they want, across a growing number of Internet-connected devices. For this reason, reaching consumers in a consistent, effective way can be a bit of a challenge for advertisers, and that's where we come in. Triton Digital is committed to helping advertisers fully leverage the power of programmatic audio so their message is heard by their target audience in a relevant and meaningful way. Our global programmatic audio marketplace, a2x(r), provides advertisers with the ability to target campaigns on the listener level, whether by format or genre, geography, age, gender, etc. By enabling advertisers to deliver hyper-targeted messages, we help them create a personal connection with their audience. The best part: Their audio ads don't have to compete for attention, and they make for a powerful complement to other programmatic channels such as video. Our relationship with advertisers really comes down to that -- enabling an easy, streamlined way of connecting with their target audience across a wide range of audio publishers globally in a way that is both engaging and relevant.

What new products or services are Triton introducing now or in the near future?

Providing the global audio industry with credible, trusted online audio measurement metrics is and remains a huge priority of ours. We currently release the monthly Webcast Metrics Rankers in both the U.S. and Latin America, and plan to further expand that distribution to continue to fuel the growth of online audio globally. We have quite a few exciting announcements in the pipe, as we are consistently improving and innovating our technology stack and service offerings to better serve our global broadcaster, podcaster and music service clients. Stay tuned!

How do you optimize the ROI of Triton's platforms?

We pride ourselves on our ability to offer unparalleled reliability and choice as it relates to the best-in-class technology and services that we provide to the audio industry, and there are a number of responsibilities that come with this which we take very seriously. The first, to ensure that each individual component of our tech stack is robust, reliable and easy to implement. The second, and equally important, is that each component be intuitive and easy to use. The third, and probably most important, is that all components must seamlessly work together to provide a trusted, end-to-end solution. This is where our clients truly optimize their ROI.

Unlike others in the marketplace, we've built an end-to-end suite of tools that adapt to the needs of our clients, providing them with access to all of the technology and services they need to support their digital audio strategy under one roof. We consider ourselves partners to our clients and offer a fully integrated, proprietary technology stack and with one support team. We save our clients time, money, and hassle by not needing to juggle multiple vendors to support their digital audio execution.

What is the ultimate potential for monetization of podcasting?

The Edison Research study "The Podcast Consumer" reported that roughly 24% of Americans with a college degree listen to podcasts monthly, as do 26% of Americans earning more than $100,000 annually. In addition, a survey of nearly 1,000 podcast listeners conducted by the IAB found that nearly two-thirds of listeners are more willing to consider purchasing products and services they learn about during a podcast. This research confirms that podcast listeners are not only open to advertising within the medium, but they are highly receptive to it as well.

While the podcast market is still relatively nascent as compared to digital audio and radio, there is certainly significant exploration and interest in monetizing the channel. TAP Podcast, our advertising platform built specifically for podcast content, is being widely adopted across the globe, with clients like NPR successfully generating revenue from their podcast programming. This will undoubtedly grow over time.

Do you strategize for Triton's future in the long term or short term?

With the audio industry evolving quickly, we find it most beneficial to strategize a maximum of two years in advance. This enables us to innovate and partner with industry leaders, and to develop products and solutions that meet both the current and anticipated future needs of our clients.