Chatterboxes Get Free Airtime with BlogTalkRadio

Firm aims to increase revenue by adding audio advertising to its Internet radio shows by Joao-Pierre Ruth

11/19/2007

WOODCLIFF LAKE Accountant turned entrepreneur Alan Levy’s latest endeavor opens the mic to capture ad revenue with Internet radio talk shows, but one critic says the gamble risks falling on deaf ears.

BlogTalkRadio.com, the year-old venture by Levy and his partner Bob Charish, gives users a free online venue to pretend they’re Larry King. More than 6,000 new shows hit the Web site each month, says Levy.

BlogTalkRadio already features banner ads on its pages, but now Levy wants to generate more money by selling audio lead-in spots preceding the programs. The plan calls for injecting ads at the opening of the live talk shows on the Web site as well as shows in BlogTalkRadio’s archives.

Levy would not speculate on potential revenue from the new audio ads.

BlogTalkRadio, based in Woodcliff Lake, is a free service for users to listen to or even host talk shows of their own. The unknown and famous alike take on hosting duties at BlogTalkRadio, conducting shows they created, talking with guests and taking live calls from listeners. Hosts include presidential candidate John McCain and Oscar-winning director Brian De Palma, but anyone with an ax to grind can create a show. BlogTalkRadio hosts can link their radio programs to their own blogs and Web sites, which Levy hopes will drive traffic to his site.

Surprisingly, neither McCain nor De Palma is the top star at BlogTalkRadio. Flying By the Seat of Our Pants , hosted by Marla Cilley, wins the most regular listeners, according to Levy. Cilley attracts 2,000 regular listeners—twice as many as the second-most popular show—by discussing domestic matters like household organization and improving family relationships. Fans downloaded her archived shows 20,000 times since its September premiere. “She’s our No. 1 host,” says Levy.

Levy hopes his inventory of programs attracts advertisers looking to reach listeners tuning into the specialized talk shows. He says BlogTalkRadio holds 33,000 episodes in its archives gathered since its launch in September 2006.

BlogTalkRadio streams up to 45 shows simultaneously, allowing hosts to schedule live programs for almost any time. To conduct a show, hosts need access to a telephone and computer connected to the Web. Up to six listeners can call into the show at a time for discussion with the host using a telephone number posted on the Web site.

While BlogTalkRadio draws fans, Dave Newmark, CEO of Bid4Spots and Newmark Advertising in Encino, Calif., questions whether the talk format can draw a substantial audience online.

“I think it will be a while before talk becomes a major viable thing on the Internet,” Newmark says. “It’s not easy to command attention of listeners for three hours in a row or even an hour.” His companies sell advertising airtime for terrestrial and Internet radio stations.

Newmark says that, to date, online radio has largely focused on transmitting music either from traditional radio stations or independent disc jockeys through services such as 1.fm or Live365.com. He sees advertising revenue for online radio primarily going to music stations. “Whatever dollars are being driven into Internet radio I believe are largely the result of terrestrial radio salespeople being pushed to sell those properties,” he says.

Independent Web DJs as a group may attract a strong following, Newmark says, but they rarely possess the means to market their shows. “The largest segment of Internet radio are the independents in terms of aggregate listening,” Newmark says. “They are generally hobbyists.”

Levy, 48, is trying to reach those hobbyists with BlogTalkRadio. He began his career with the accounting firm Edward Isaacs then jumped into telecom in 1993 by joining Viatel Inc. in New York City as chief financial officer. In 1996, Levy became the chief financial officer of Paramus-based telecom company EconoPhone. There he met Charish, the company's director of calling-card services. Levy rose rapidly and became president three months after joining EconoPhone. The company's name changed to Destia Communications in 1999 when the company went public.

Levy sold the company for $732.9 million in December 1999 to Viatel. Levy and Charish bought telecom equipment at a discount after the telecom market collapse and built two telephone companies, Xchange Telecom in Brooklyn and MyPhoneCompany.com in Lakewood. “Telecom assets became very inexpensive because companies crashed and burned,” Levy says.

Levy, recognized in 1999 by NJBIZ as a “Forty Under 40” young leader, says he now uses his two telecom companies to support BlogTalkRadio. Levy says his father, who helped spark the idea for BlogTalkRadio, would be proud. Maurice Levy, who passed away in May 2006, used a traditional text blog as an outlet while suffering from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

“I know exactly what he would say—he would be laughing hysterically,” Levy says about his father. “He would be amazed that his illness helped to create a platform that has empowered thousands of citizen broadcasters.”

[original article at NJBIZ (subscription required)]