The Rise Of Radio
Alan Oliver, head of business development at Virgin Radio, looks at the current state of commercial radio in the UK in light of recent mixed news, and puts forward the case for why the medium is important for both consumers and advertisers…
“Blink and you’ll miss it.” For me, that’s the line that currently sums up the media landscape today. It’s an exciting and dynamic place to be and has never been as fast moving or innovative.
The consumer media revolution has irrevocably changed communication practices. Joe Public now decides what media he consumes and when. He has the power and the choice and as a result all channels have had to evolve in order to maintain share. This has had a positive affect as it’s driven creativity and best practice making for a more engaging media environment for the consumer.
So why the change? Primarily because people are now spending far more time away from the home where the majority would usually consume their media – listening to the radio in the kitchen, watching the telly after dinner and reading a magazine in the bath. But increasingly we are on the move and expect our media to travel with us. For example, more people now listen to the radio outside the house than inside. And the way that we listen is changing. Almost half of FM listeners tune in via their mobile phone and 8.1 million people listen to the radio via the internet per week – unthinkable a decade ago.
Virgin Radio is experiencing similar growth trends for its less traditional platforms. Within our multiplatform digital reach for example, the internet makes up 15% and digital TV 35% of our national listening, and the latest RAJARs show that digital listening now accounts for 30% of our reach and 23% of our hours, indicating our listeners’ appetite for platforms other than the traditional FM and AM offerings.
In the press lately, however, DAB has been having a tough time of it. A number of developments, most notably GCap’s retreat, have cast a shadow over it, and there have been some murmurs of uncertainty and blatant scare mongering. One analyst has even gone as far to say that DAB could be the Betamax of the VCR age. But while its future might currently be shrouded in doubt, the reality is that it remains in rude health. Consumer take-up of DAB far exceeds other digital platforms: 73% of the population receive the Freeview digital terrestrial TV platform, whilst Digital One’s reach has now extended to more than 90% of UK consumers. Christmas sales of digital radios broke all previous records and as a result 10% of all radio listening is now digital, through six million sets.
As a result there are a number of exciting opportunities for advertisers looking to partner with commercial radio stations. The next digital challenge for the radio industry, therefore, is to formulate a successful digital sales presence, not just an as an add-on to analogue. Moreover, with UK adspend on radio set to increase and this month’s proclamation that media buyers are more optimistic about radio advertising than they have been for years (research by Human Capital), it’s a very exciting time for commercial radio and for brands looking to capitalise on the relationship between a station and its listeners.
Radio advertising in my mind is one of the most creative disciplines around, not least because many of the branded promotions we run are now weaved into the content of shows, creating truly compelling, irresistible branded content. Yet, there are still some platform issues that need addressing. The advertising, marketing and media communities have talked about integration for years – creating campaigns across multiple channels to ensure reach – as it is a commonly accepted fact that consumers don’t just engage with one channel. This approach now needs to translate across to radio.
At Virgin Radio, it is our firm belief that we have to offer our listeners choice. This is why we have made investments in DAB, Digital TV, the internet and mobile. We want our station to be available for our listeners to access on any platform that suits them – radio has to become truly platform agnostic. Just as it is unwise to second-guess what media your target audience might be consuming for a marketing campaign, it is foolish to make platform choices limited in radio for a rightly very demanding audience.
Virgin Radio is available for our listeners to tune into in high quality on whatever platform they fancy – whether it’s mobile because they’re on the bus, over the internet as they’ve got headphones on at work or through DAB as they’re cooking a stir-fry for supper. The industry has to realise that listeners want to engage on a platform that suits them, wherever they are, and it is our duty to make our stations available to them on all viable platforms – or risk losing them altogether.
Not only is this good news for the consumer, but also for the advertising community as it offers them more innovative touch points with our audiences across a greater range of channels, true integration in both senses of the word – platform and media.