SOV Media

09/11/2025

Today we lost an incredible American, a man who stood on principle, and built an incredible organization, that changed hearts and minds.

We worked closely with Charlie and his team on many successful campaigns and were proud to partner with him.

That a coward took him from his wife, children, and all who knew, loved, and admired him, simply because they disagreed with his opinions, is a tragic indictment of our society.

May he rest in peace and we pray the lord will comfort his family during this unimaginable loss.

08/18/2025

The only thing which is harder than becoming successful, is staying successful. When you start out, there is only one way to go. Once you gain some altitude, there are two.

You have to fight the urge to get comfortable, complacent, entitled, and cocky. You have to adapt, evolve, and keep an open mind to new ideas and view setbacks as an opportunity to grow.

Today I am happy to announce that we made the Inc 5000 for the second year in a row!

This year has been a challenge because the politics of this country dramatically impacts the public’s desire for certain products and services. As a result we have been adapting as an organization to the changing needs of our clients and the audience they serve.

Through it all, my team has worked extremely hard, staying focused on the mission and never letting the adversity break their spirit. At home, I have been blessed with Irene’s love and support through the challenges, occasional setbacks, and late nights in the office.

I want to thank my clients for their collaborative spirit, trust, and confidence. This is the bedrock my company was built upon and without them, there is no SOV Media.

Thank you!

08/18/2025

The only thing which is harder than becoming successful, is staying successful. When you start out, there is only one way to go. Once you gain some altitude, there are two.

You have to fight the urge to get comfortable, complacent, entitled, and cocky. You have to adapt, evolve, and keep an open mind to new ideas and view setbacks as an opportunity to grow.

Today I am happy to announce that we made the Inc 5000 for the second year in a row!

This year has been a challenge because the politics of this country dramatically impacts the public's desire for certain products and services. As a result we have been adapting as an organization to the changing needs of our clients and the audience they serve.

Through it all, my team has worked extremely hard, staying focused on the mission and never letting the adversity break their spirit. At home, I have been blessed with Irene's love and support through the challenges, occasional setbacks, and late nights in the office.

I want to thank my clients for their collaborative spirit, trust, and confidence. This is the bedrock my company was built upon and without them, there is no SOV Media.

Thank you!

SOV Media: A marketing and advertising company providing custom campaigns for clients through national advertising sales, spoken word endorsement radio, podcasts, and television.

08/22/2024

This week we received the honor of making the Inc. 5000 list. The list comes out annually and recognizes the 5000 fastest growing, privately held, companies in America.

While it is true that I made sacrifices, worked countless hours, lost sleep, skipped vacations, took calls on holidays, and occasionally pushed myself beyond my limits, the truth is, there are many people who contributed to this moment.

I could not have accomplished this without the love and support of Irene, who fueled my soul with her encouragement, patient ear, and incredible food. From the moment our relationship took off she supported my work in the advertising industry. Those first six months were tough, with many more challenges to come. She has been my best friend, sounding board, crisis consultant, and my refuge when the stress of the job tested my soul. Thank you for always having my back.

I want to thank my father for his example. As a child, I watched my dad get up every day, put on a suit, and deal with the daily aggravations of business. Some of my best memories were hearing about his day at the dinner table. I learned to always maintain some humility and work just as hard for the small clients as the big ones.

To my friend and mentor, Kraig, thank you for giving me an opportunity that ultimately changed my life. Your patience, leadership, and guidance helped me grasp a new career and ultimately create SOV Media. The lessons I learned working for you have made me a better businessman and hopefully, a great leader for my team.

I want to thank our clients, who have entrusted us with their life’s work. Rarely do they see how hard we fight for their best interests, and take great pride in doing so. It’s truly an honor to help them become successful, and that in turn fuels our success.

Finally, I want to thank my team at SOV Media. It takes a leap of faith to join a company and trust that it will provide security. I am grateful for your hard work, dedication, and trust. I measure my success based on how successful you can become working here. I will continue to strive every day to live up to that promise. Thank you!

03/03/2023

Money is the byproduct of good business, not the other way around.

03/20/2020

What goes up, must come down.
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If I told you, on President Donald Trump's inauguration day, that Bill O'Reilly would be out, at Fox News, a few months later, you would have thought it impossible.
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Money, power, and fame are all fleeting.
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The new media has created unlimited choices for consumers to pick from. It has also created an overload of narcissistic, self-involved, media personalities, who fail to realize there difference between a moment in time and a legacy career.
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The times have also created a generation of short sighted media salespeople, executives and marketers who fail to see the value of long term relationships.
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No matter how successful you are today, there will be setbacks. Nobody stays on top forever, we all will be humbled, at some point.
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When that day comes, how you treated people on the way up will be reflected as you fall back to Earth.
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03/03/2020

More voices, not less, is the answer.

John Matze, CEO of social media platform Parler, slammed big tech companies for failing to respect privacy and free speech in an appearance at CPAC.

02/28/2020

If you're wondering what happened to the old saying, the customer is always right, so am I.
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It goes without saying that media sales organizations are nice because they want your money. That said, historically speaking, media organizations understood the value of reinforcing relationships through wining and dining, added value, or being reasonably flexible with corporate protocols.
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In today's transactional, programmatic, swipe left or right, business world, some media organizations act as if they are doing you a favor in providing you with the opportunity to give them your money.
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I've noticed an increase in this arrogance as we move away from traditional broadcast into more transitional podcast and influencer media opportunities.
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Never be afraid to remind your ad salesperson, their manager, or their manager's manager, who pays their meal ticket.
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When you pay the bill, you have the power. Only do business with those who respect this reality.
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12/10/2019

I'm not going to go so far as to say that it is a thankless job but notes like this aren't common.
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If you are doing your best work for your clients you're at war, on a daily basis, with media companies (not necessarily reps) who are more concerned with the bottom line than fostering long-term relationships and helping small organizations become big ones.
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Never give up on the notion that the customer is always right, even when they aren't, because it is your job to guide them through the forest, even if it means fighting off a few wolves along the way.
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10/15/2019

It's that time again, time to ring the doorbell of your favorite ad sales person and ask them how much the rate is going up next year.
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Podcasting is hot right now and some publishers are acting like mortgage brokers in 2007.
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Unfortunately there are too many ad agencies out there capitulating out of fear that inventory will disappear. But what good is inventory if it's overpriced and your clients are hemorrhage cash?
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Whether it's charging against a number less than the actual downloads, to inflate the CPM and then slowly closing the gap on new orders after upfront season ends, or adding YouTube to the mix because it's easier to increase views than earn new downloads, there are many nuances that matter when assessing opportunities.
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The rapid growth in podcast is not adding hours to the day or increasing attention spans. I predict a correction in the value of podcast inventory as audience fragments further and the excessive frequency of host read spots creates fatigue.
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I'm still a big fan of podcast as an advertising platform but caution against blindly betting the farm on it.
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09/10/2019

If there is one statistic that exemplifies how difficult it is to gain podcast followers it is the fact that about 14% of all podcasts, in existence, only have one episode.
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One recent trend has been to offer a visual experience, through YouTube, to existing podcasts. This is because video is shared more often than audio and it is easier to boost views on YouTube than earn podcast downloads.
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Sounds great at first glance until the publishers apply the same cpm as audio downloads.
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There are three reasons why this myopic view of pricing might be a bad idea. The first is the distraction free environment of audio podcasts.
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Unlike YouTube, podcasts don't have a bunch of distractions, off to the side, algorithmically designed to earn your attention the second the main course has a lowered impact on your dopamine levels.
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Podcasts are downloaded in full episodes where the average listen time is 50 minutes, YouTube counts it as a view after 30 seconds. What good is a view if they don't stick around for the ads?
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Finally, podcasts can be enjoyed without distracting you from other activities. You can listen at work, the gym, while driving or in a waiting room. YouTube requires your full attention which limits when, how long, and where you can watch.
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All of these factors impact advertising engagement, thus impacting ROI. This is in addition to the natural decline in engagement once you grow beyond your P1 audience.
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Pay close attention when publishers mix these two mediums as it can have a dramatic impact on the success of your campaign.
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08/26/2019

Look up the phrase "advertising rate integrity"... I'll wait.
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Having trouble? That's because you can't find it yet countless ad sales managers, salespeople, and industry leaders throw the term around.
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The term is the practice of maintaining rate despite a multitude of forces suggesting that the rate should be lowered.
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These forces include, but are not limited to, advertisers losing money, salespeople complaining that the rate is too high or a high percentage of the inventory going unsold.
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To combat this potential issue, some publishers have constructed mirrors that they pump smoke through.
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One way, especially prevalent in podcast, is selling against a download number which is less than the actual number to give the illusion of a higher CPM.
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An example is selling against a disclosed 500,000 downloads at a $30 CPM when you really have 750,000 downloads. This as opposed to selling against 750,000 downloads at a $20 CPM.
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The practice used to take a different form with broadcast radio. They would sell you one spot for $10,000, with a bonus spot after you got crushed, as opposed to selling two spots for $5,000. This only works if they have the inventory, which they will if the rate is too high.
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Cookie cutter rate structures help companies project revenue but in this era of excessive attribution, the reality of ROI trumps rate integrity.
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A potential solution is recognizing the variation in rate, from show to show and finding ways to increase overall revenue across the multitude of properties available.
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Despite the best efforts of publishers to hold the line, the right rate will reveal itself in the form of renewals and demand for inventory. Those who adapt will maximize the revenue potential, overall, for the properties they own.
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