The Irish radio industry is overly reliant on spot advertising, Bill Kinlay, the chief executive of media agency Mindshare Ireland, told stations during a "half-time team talk" to the Independent Broadcasters of Ireland (IBI) conference last week.

Keeping firmly to “the spot route” meant stations were “trying to convert money that is getting harder and harder to convert”, Kinlay said.

“You need to be less dependent on your spot revenue and grow additional revenue streams.”

The medium needs to increase visual support for stations (by staging events and building a social media presence), ensure listeners are not passive ones that treat it as background noise and reduce advertising “clutter”.

The Naked Breakfast show on 98FM was cited as an example of recent innovation by the industry. Its entire breakfast show – including the ads, the music and the jingles – were performed and broadcast live from Vicar Street one Friday last November.

Growth

Kinlay said he wasn’t there “to be critical”, as media-buying agencies sometimes were of the industry, but to pass on a “could do better” message.

The radio market will grow by about €3 million this year to €92 million, according to Mindshare’s forecasts.

“But I think there’s an additional €5 million up for grabs,” he told IBI members,” Kinlay said.

“We want you to make it easy for us to spend money.”