The Digital Future of Radio

1
The Digital Future of Radio

• Radio 2016 broadcasters, economies and content
  in a digital age.
• Helen Shaw, Amsterdam 24-26 November

2
Radio 2016

• Who will be listening?
• To what?
• How?
• Where?
• And will it still be radio?

3
It is the message, after all.

• Whats pushing innovation is the desire to
  communicate to realise the potential for
  interaction so that media allows a two way flow
• Digital cross media hybrids, McLuhans hybrid
  energy
• the hybrid or the meeting of two media is a
  moment of truth from which new form is born.

4
How has digital changed radio?

• Shifting time-space dimension
• my media on-demand/personal
• Allows enhanced local and global radio networks
• Lowers barrier of entry and production
• Alters commercial/advertising base

5
Radio in a my media age

• Mobility and personal what I want, when I want
  it, where I am
• Interaction with live programming
• Creating your own media (internetrssmp3
  playerspodcasting)
• Integration with visual multimedia radio

6
What do people want?

• To communicate express self
• To control content/media flows
• Digital media growth marked by e-communications
• Bottom up drive email/texting/blogging/podcasting
  
• Radios future depends on ability to meet that
  need

7
Podcasting economies.

• Adam Curry its totally going to kill the
  business model of radio self-proclaimed Pied
  Piper of podcasting

8
Podcasting economies

• Dave Winer Harvard Law developer of RSS open
  source software behind podcasting
• podcasting is going to be medium of niches
  with audiences in single digits.
• Yet NPR had 4 million downloads and BBC
  Beethoven experiment had over a million
• But who pay for bandwidth?

9
Podcasting tipping point

• Feb 2004 The Guardian in UK calls
  audio-blogging podcasting
• BBC launches podcasting pilot May-Dec 05
• October 31 NPR in US announces 4 mil downloads
  of its podcasting pilot
• Nov 05 Goggle podcasts 9 million hits - but
  hype or phenomenon?

10
Back to the Wireless Future

• Radios original business model not built on spot
  adverts but sponsored programmes
• New business model built on same premise as
  content give people what they want, when and
  where they want it less ambush more consent

11
Consenting to adverts?

• Collapse theory based on assumption of advert
  avoidance
• New model built on giving people reasons to let
  you sell to them because internet allows you
  to target your audience and know them
• Free quality content associated with permission
  to sell through offers

12
Micro payments

• Think ring tones multi-billion market
• People are prepared in mobile, telephony to
  provide micro payments for content they value
• Radio needs added value to achieve micro
  payments

13
Subscription radio

• Its a working business model in US
• Gives people what they want/whenwhere
• Paying for content and for it to be advert free
  or near advert free
• We pay for Digital TV and still accept adverts
  and sponsorship

14
Digital Radio in UK

• Rajar Sept 05 10.5 - listen digital
• 5.5 DAB sets
• 2.9 TV
• 1.8 Internet
• DAB radios sets to hit 3 mil by Xmas

15
Limits of the digital future

• The fragile business case
• Move from spot advertisement to sponsorship to
  push button multimedia sales
• Loss of mass audiences need to personalise
  offering to niches
• Bandwidth!

16
Flow of content..
17
(No Transcript)