Sound Rules for Commercials

The main impact for Production Studios is the introduction of a new file format  for dispatching commercials in the digital radio era.

Although the file format has been introduced because of digital radio commercials, it will soon apply to all radio commercials because of its superior accuracy and other benefits.   

The new standard file format has been called the Piñata, because it allows all the elements for a digital radio commercial to be packaged into one file for accurate, efficient dispatch to radio networks, where the Piñata can be broken open and the stations can get to all the goodies. The file extension for the Piñata is BWF (broadcast wave file.)

Significantly though Piñata also carries an audit trail of who created which elements in each package, it has an approval field for creative agencies or clients to sign off on the content and it also contains a unique identifier so that networks can tell which dispatch company sent them which Piñata.

The Piñata concept arose from a working group set up by CRA last year, which AudioNET was enthusiastically involved in.

Who Creates the Piñata packages and How?   

The radio networks have made it clear that audio is still king -  especially for digital radio commercials.

Therefore, AudioNET believes production studios are best placed to create the Piñata packages.  Because studio staff work closely with agency producers, it also makes sense for the studio to be the point at which the audio, text and images come together in the final package.  

Piñata packages are created using a Piñata production tool.

AudioNET provided the first generation of  Piñata production tools to Production Studios in 2010.