New research reveals that podcast audiences are significantly larger than download metrics indicate due to "co-listening"—with 16-30% of consumption happening in group settings, particularly on smart TVs where families gather together. This hidden audience multiplier creates unprecedented opportunities for local media companies (newspapers, radio, TV, magazines) to command premium podcast advertising rates by leveraging their decades of community trust and credibility that anonymous digital creators cannot match. Local media brands can position their podcasts as reaching entire households rather than individual listeners, justifying higher CPMs through their unique combination of trusted voices, professional production quality, and deep community integration that drives superior advertising effectiveness. The co-listening phenomenon transforms podcasting from individual consumption to shared household experiences, strongly favoring established local media brands that can offer advertisers authentic community connections and household penetration at premium value.

Information Asymmetry has been a powerful tool in buying/selling almost from when Eve convinced Adam to take a bite of an apple. Centuries ago, Francis Bacon said, “Knowledge is power.” We’ve always tended to wield that knowledge as a weapon, creating advantage to us. Information asymmetry occurs where one party has a disproportionate informational or material knowledge advantage over the other party.

Before you win on the outside, you have to believe on the inside.
At Marketing Insights, we know that mindset isn’t just part of success—it’s the foundation of it.

In marketing and sales, where pressure is high and outcomes can be uncertain, it’s your mindset that keeps you going. Confidence, resilience, and self-belief are what fuel creative thinking, long-term momentum, and breakthrough moments—especially when the path gets tough.

This collection of quotes highlights:
✨ The inner strength behind outer success
✨ The role of grit, belief, and endurance in staying the course
✨ How mindset shapes momentum, especially when progress feels far away

You’ve got a good team. The results are solid. You genuinely like one another. Trust is good too. And yet. You have a feeling you’re capable of more. What’s missing? If you’re fortunate to be working on a good team, it can be tempting to keep doing what you’ve always done. But Marshall Goldsmith’s advice for leaders is true for teams too, “What got you here, might not get you there.”

A “no” isn’t the end—it’s part of the journey toward a stronger “yes.”
At Marketing Insights, we understand that overcoming objections requires more than tactics—it demands resilience, emotional intelligence, and perspective.

Handling rejection with grace turns challenges into learning moments and resistance into new possibilities. This collection of quotes highlights how mindset and empathy transform pushback into progress, reminding us that every obstacle carries the seeds of opportunity.

This collection highlights:
✨ The power of perseverance and positivity in the face of “no”
✨ How learning from objections sharpens your approach
✨ The mindset shifts that turn rejection into growth

It’s become high fashion to declare the future of selling is “virtual.” While F2F, telephone, text, and other approaches will continue to exist, everything is moving to virtual. Usually, there’s a whole bunch of data to support why this is important. For example, sales people can make back to back sales calls through the whole day.

With the reality of change fatigue, mental health issues, collaboration overload and the demands of leading in a hybrid environment, today’s leader needs strategies to renew energy and avoid burnout. Here are four simple steps with strategies to take immediately. Before age 61 adults need a minimum of 7 hours sleep each night. Not getting enough sleep has been compared to alcohol impairment, with 24 hours wakefulness to be compared to a blood alcohol level at 0.10%.

How a War Veteran Built Canada's Most Influential Youth Media Empire and Changed Pop Culture Forever
Allan Waters, a World War II veteran, transformed a failing Toronto radio station into CHUM Limited, one of Canada’s most influential media empires. He pioneered youth-focused programming and launched iconic platforms like MuchMusic, while supporting Canadian artists through initiatives like VideoFACT. Waters succeeded by deeply understanding underserved audiences and building cultural institutions that fostered trust and loyalty. His legacy teaches media professionals that long-term success comes from innovation, community connection, and purpose-driven leadership.

The news media, including newspapers and news magazines, are often criticized for printing only the bad news. If they printed editions with coverage of their own industry, then they wouldn’t have much choice but to print the bad news because the good news for print media is difficult to find. There are a few sparks of life, however, and more so in magazines than newspapers, as the conversion from the physical to the digital version of print media continues albeit slowly.

A recent discussion with a group of late millennial professionals led to some important insights about what the next generation wants to learn from their current leaders and what workplace experience they’re seeking. The group was remarkable in that they were all born in 1996, the last year of the millennial generation and have had life experiences that span major hallmarks of their generation and those of Gen Z.

Performance is the conversation of the moment. Some leaders are concerned if remote and hybrid workers are getting their work done. The changes to how work gets done in the last several years have also made us question the performance metrics we’re using to gauge success. These are conversations we should have but aren’t the only levers of performance.

Industry Press Highlights, Media, Retail, Advertising and the Economy

This year's Black Friday performance highlighted a critical lesson for local media advertisers: simple, benefit-driven value messaging is far more effective at driving traffic and sales than purpose-driven brand positioning. While Walmart achieved record sales by focusing maniacally on its "Save Money. Live Better" promise, Target struggled, suggesting its focus on socio-cultural initiatives came at the expense of core retail value. For local retailers, the takeaway is clear: marketing budgets should prioritize consistent, clear communication of price, product, service, and availability to motivate the middle-class consumer. Media sales professionals should advise clients to shift the conversation from corporate virtue to tangible customer benefits to maximize transactional performance.

Industry Press Highlights, Media, Retail, Advertising and the Economy

An NYU psychologist offers critical guidance for dealing with a jerk at work. Most of us work with a jerk—toxic people who seem hellbent on making our lives, well, hell. But here’s the good news: You don’t have to be completely beholden to their poisonous ways. It turns out toxic coworkers often operate by the same tired playbook. And once you identify and understand what type of work jerk you’re dealing with, you’ll have more ammo to neutralize them.