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Radio, Everywhere and on Everything
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Did you catch our webinar “25 Things You Might Have Missed at NAB”? I highly recommend it. It’s a full hour of industry trend discussion and product coverage from five Radio World editors, all free thanks to our sponsors Harris and Nautel.
Among the topics were the following. Find a link to the webinar at the end.
A major theme for industry leaders is that radio and TV stations need to be available on mobile phones, tablets, laptops and game consoles.
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Jacobs
Media’s study shows the ‘digital landscape’ that radio managers must navigate.
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Along those lines, I like the annual “Tech Survey” from Jacobs Media, which offers a snapshot of the behavior of radio listeners using input from 57,000 people.
The first graphic shows “media usage.” As you see near the base of the pyramid, terrestrial radio remains a huge part of listeners’ lives, with 92 percent using the medium an hour or more a day (though this is somewhat self-fulfilling, since the survey is of radio listeners to start with).
Certainly though Internet radio is taking a bigger role; and Pandora is the most popular “pure” Internet option, easily besting competitors like iHeartRadio, Spotify and Slacker. There is quite a debate about whether Pandora should even be considered “radio” but regardless, it is attracting ears. HD Radio continues to have a small footprint by comparison.
But without doubt, one big battleground for radio is the car. More than half of the respondents say that most of their radio listening takes place in cars; yet almost half say they’re able to connect a smartphone or MP3 player there; and one in 10 now has an “infotainment” system like Ford’s Sync, a number that will grow quickly.
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The
battle for drivers’ attention is likely only to grow more fierce.
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This is the background against which traditional broadcasters and new types of “radio” will be duking it out. Where does traditional radio fit in the new dashboard? It’s why entities like Clear Channel, ESPN and NPR have invested so much time in online apps, and it’s why some companies are trying to figure out whether to do the same thing or keep waiting, or even partner up online with competitors.
Jacobs says its results suggest that radio needs to focus “on connecting emotionally and meaningfully with listeners.”
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Along those lines, here are some relevant comments from the Broadcast Engineering Conference keynote address by Kevin Gage, executive vice president and chief technology officer of NAB.:
“Whether it is software — or, as Apple has proven, hardware — we are now operating in an environment of rapid development and constant deployment,” Gage told the gathered engineers.
“With this perspective, it becomes clearer that success today requires the ability to navigate the rapidly changing consumer environment and provide services and goods that meet their needs ...
“By some analysts’ projections, by 2015 there will be hundreds of millions of Wi-Fi only tablets in the market … hundreds of millions of devices that cannot truly receive content in a mobile environment that fits the consumer’s lifestyle. I see an opportunity.
“We have the opportunity to untether consumers from the Internet and to offer high-quality video and audio directly to mobile phones, tablets and laptops. We have the opportunity to deliver data directly to portable devices, relieving the load on carrier networks while speeding up distribution of time-critical information. We have the opportunity to create exciting new services, based on our one-to-many architecture, and distribute these new services directly to consumers.
“To state it bluntly, broadcasters must become proactive and take the lead in forging their future, or someone else will.”
He said NAB is helping through its creation of NAB Labs, on which we’ve reported, and he laid out the goals for that organization.
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A slightly different perspective comes from Radio World contributor Cris Alexander, director of engineering for Crawford Broadcasting. For the webinar, I asked him what consumer or technology trends he thinks are most on people’s minds.
“It seems that everyone is concerned about Pandora and other online streaming services, and perhaps that is justified to a degree,” he said.
“But in my opinion, the amount of available RF bandwidth cannot sustain the one-to-one model that streaming uses beyond a certain number of listeners.
“We have experienced that ourselves with audio-over-IP products … While these may work perfectly over 3G or 4G during off-peak times, when the remote venue is full of people, we cannot get a reliable connection in many cases. I have heard anecdotal reports of the same kind of thing for in-car streaming during peak times.
“As these devices (especially in-car wireless) continue to proliferate, the problem will only get worse. This is where the broadcaster’s one-to-many model shines, and along with unique and relevant content, we have to capitalize on that.”
Tell me what you think the future holds for radio in the world of broadband, mobile proliferation and the glass dashboard. Write to radioworld@nbmedia.com.
Those are just a smattering of comments from the webinar. Please watch and let me know what you think. Click here to watch.
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