Camii Whidborne
Posts by Camii Whidborne:
Analogue Radio Advertising – Is There Any Point?
Close your eyes and think about the things you do whilst listening to the radio. Maybe you listen to the radio whilst cooking or cleaning? Do you listen to it whilst working or driving? Maybe you scroll through social media as you listen? Maybe you are even listening to it now whilst reading this article?
Now, ask yourself if your full attention is ever on the radio and just the radio. Try to think about the last time you fully listened to the radio, without doing anything else or focusing on anything else. Difficult, right?
Now, I want you to think about what you do when an advert starts playing on the radio. Am I right to assume that you divert your attention to whatever else you are doing? That you fully focus on whatever it is you are cooking, cleaning or reading. Do you ever actually listen to the advert? Do you ever think about what the advertiser is saying? Or do you just see it as background noise – going in through one ear and out the other.
We are in an ever-evolving era, the 21st century is a tech savvy, digital time, where everyone is a pro at multi-tasking and concentration spans are fast decreasing. As a result, analogue radio advertising is becoming less and less effective as we learn to drown out the sounds of jingles and jokes and learn to divert out attention to something more interesting within a moment.
I’m not suggesting that advertisers should stop advertising with radio stations. I am simply saying that advertisers would be better off enforcing their message on other platforms. Not only should advertisement be played on-air, but also shown on the station’s website, their app and on their online broadcast, where a visual advert can be included.
Working with the internet will give advertisers the opportunity to accurately target their audience, thus generating more money and consumption.
Week in Review – January Week 2
This Week in Review has highlighted some innovations in the digital sector, with audio streaming now becoming the largest share of audio consumption. Furthermore, SoundCloud and Pandora have made some executive decisions. Additionally, digital radio has taken over cars, with 8 out of 10 cars registered in 2016 featuring the latest digital radios.
Audio Streaming is More Popular Than Buying Music Digitally
Nielson Music has released its 2016 U.S. year-end report. The report shows that 2016 saw an overall year-on-year volume growth of 3%, mainly due to the 76% increase in on-demand audio streams compared to 2015. On-demand audio streaming has now grown to 38% of total audio consumption; becoming the largest share of consumption. For the first time in history, on-demand audio streaming share has now surpassed total digital sales.
SoundCloud Makes Executive Changes
SoundCloud’s co-founder, Eric Wahsforss, is stepping away from the role of CTO and instead taking the new position as chief product officer. To replace Wahsforss, Souncloud has hired Yahoo’s vice president of engineering, Artem Fishman, as the new CTO.
8 Out of 10 New Cars Now Fitted with Digital Radio
84% of car models registered last year are now fitted with digital radio. In 2016, 2.28 million cars hit the road with digital radio; this is the first time the two million milestone has been reached. Over the past five years, the number of newly-registered cars factory-fitted with digital radio has increased more than four-fold. This is thanks to major investment by manufacturers.
Pandora to Reduce its Employee Base
Pandora plans to reduce its U.S. employee base by approximately 7% by the end of Q1 2017. This is to to “focus the company on the most significant opportunities” (Tim Westergren, Founder and CEO of Pandora). It will cost Pandora about five to seven million dollars to make these cuts because of severance packages and benefits costs.
Facebook Live Audio – A Huge Opportunity for Podcasters
For those who do not know, Facebook have announced that they will be expanding its Live platform by introducing Live Audio.
Similarly to Facebook Live (Live Video), live audio will enable any Facebook user to go live, but without the visual aspect.
Facebook have even claimed in their announcement that “listeners can discover live audio content in News Feed, ask questions and leave reactions in real time during the broadcast, and easily share with their friends.”
Facebook live will give publishers another way to get content out to their audience as often as they like. Users can also give publishers instant feedback.
Currently, Facebook Live Audio is only available to a few pre-selected partners; including BBC World Service, LBC, Harper Collins and individual authors such as Adam Grant. However, Facebook did promise in their announcement that they will open it up to more publishers early this year. Unfortunately, there is no telling when it will be universally available.
Facebook Live Audio has already faced some controversy amongst the public, especially amongst radio broadcasters.
This is due to the fact that Facebook’s Live Audio will create another advertising channel. Buying ads in Facebook Live Audio broadcast will mean less businesses will want to advertise with radio.
On the other hand, it will be great for those with low connectivity. The advantage with Facebook Live Audio over Live Video is that Live Audio will not require as much bandwidth. Those who have a low internet connection will still be able to connect with audiences in real time.
I personally do not see Facebook Live Audio as the end of radio. In fact, radio broadcasters could use Live Audio as a way to advertise their station. They could feature snippets of their on-air radio broadcast and encourage those who listen to their Live Audio on Facebook to tune in to hear more.
In my eyes, the best thing about Facebook Live Audio will be the great opportunity for podcasters. Although the podcast industry is growing, with 13% of Americans having claimed to have listened to a podcast in the past week (Edison Research), it is difficult to turn podcasts viral. Facebook will give podcasts this advantage. Live Audio will enable podcasts to be liked, shared, commented on and appear in people’s newsfeed to increase engagement. Podcasts will not only become a lot more easily accessible but will also enable more people to get to know and love them.
Whether or not you are a supporter of Facebook Live Audio, it will most definitely disrupt the audio industry. The key to surviving this change is by embracing it.
Radio Must Follow in the Footsteps of Newspaper
Newspaper has faced a huge decline in selling printed copies within the last decade. This is due to the rise of the internet; information is now available instantly and free of charge and so users are now going online for news rather than reading printed paper. In 2013, the total revenue within the newspaper industry decreased by 2.6% (Harvard Politics).
Newspaper had no option – they had to go digital in order for them to keep their audience. Newspaper could therefore save money on print as a decline of hardcopy purchases are made as a result of more people going online to read the news. As a result, it is now even quicker for news to be made available to the public; stories are published within minutes of an event occurring.
The issue arises now as to how print media can make money without selling any papers; to resolve this, news websites have adverts published on their pages. This benefits both the advertiser and newspaper; of course, the newspaper benefits because it makes money off the advertisers. Advertisers find their primary target audience according to internets users’ psychographic and demographics found on social media sites. They feature their adverts on pages that their audience would be most likely to read. This benefits them as they can efficiently target their audience. This efficient method has enabled many major newspapers to grow and remain relevant; as early as 2008, Los Angeles Times’ online income became enough to pay for their paper’s entire print and online news staff.
The Independent newspaper have taken a step into the future to become the first digital-only newspaper. They have stopped publishing hard copies of their newspaper and are only available online. Steve Auckland, Group CEO, ESI Media saw The Independent’s switch to digital as “a further opportunity for our advertisers to capitalise on our growing, smart, affluent and digital savvy audience”.
Stepping into the modern world means that newspapers are set to remain relevant for years to come.
It is now time for radio to follow in the footsteps of newspaper and become a part of the internet; remaining relevant and becoming more successful.
Week in Review – January Week 3
January 23, 2017
Hello to all and welcome to January’s third Week in Review. Announcements and controversies have filled this week up; with both Edison Research and Deezer announcing some pretty cool things. Deezer are hoping to get new artists under the spotlight. In addition, Edison Research have released the date of their Infinite Dial! Furthermore, Norway’s controversial switch from AM/FM to DAB has already faced some difficulties, plus Podtrac have released December 2016’s most listened to podcasts.
Edison Research Announce The Infinite Dial 2017 Release Date
Edison Research and Triton Digital have announced the release date if the 25th edition of The Infinite Dial; 9th March 2017 (7pm in Great Britain time zone). The Infinite Dial is the longest-running survey of consumer habits and behaviours associated with digital and offline media in the U.S. You can register for the webinar here.
Deezer Announces Launch of Deezer Next
Deezer, one of the world’s leading global music streaming services, has announced the launch of Deezer Next. The company created this programme with the goal to identify and champion emerging talent. Furthermore, it will hopefully create an avenue for exposure to new audiences. Deezer will work directly with their hand-picked artists to develop their profile through various methods, including playlisting and marketing support.
This American Life is Most Listened To Podcast of December 2016
Podtrac have released the United States’ top 20 podcasts of December 2016. This American Life was December’s top podcast. Then followed RadioLab, TED Radio Hour and Freakonomics. The entire top seven slots did not change from Podtrac’s November accounting.
Norway’s Digital Radio Network Suffers Disruption
It had just been a week since Norway started shutting down its FM network on 11th January 2017 when they suffered their first disruption. Some parts of the country were left without DAB on 18th January, when two separate and simultaneous cable breaks caused by human error. However, the connection was re-established after about three hours.