The latest radio ratings were released in the UK and Ireland last week. While stations crow over who is No.1 we’re concerned with a basic, yet essential question; how is radio as a platform performing?

In Ireland, the news is not good, with overall listening taking another dive. Currently the Average Weekday Yesterday Listenership figure is at 84%. About ten years ago that was up at 89%. It’s clear the trend is showing less and less Irish people are listening to radio.

The opposite is true in the UK where radio listening is increasing. Radio there now reaches 91% of the population.

The key difference between the two markets is that UK listeners have a lot more choice. In Ireland, when you’re done listening to your favourite station, there is precious little else to tune to. In the UK, flip over to DAB, and there is a wealth of extra stations. So instead of turning off, UK listeners tend to listen to something else, hence the increase in overall listening.

The current RAJAR release shows the DAB platform, and the stations on it, are doing well. Of all radio listening in the UK 28.2% is now done on digital radio and DAB exclusive stations continue to increase audience. The most successful this time around is Absolute 80’s which broke the million listeners a week barrier.

In Ireland, outside of the main metro areas, listeners have an effective choice of just six stations. This is not good for listeners, it’s not good for radio and it’s not good for business.

So the choice for Irish broadcasting is to keep the status quo and wonder in twenty years why our businesses are failing or, at the very least, start learning about DAB and how it can be used to grow the business and provide for our futures.

As a commercial operator it was most interesting to hear what big national public service broadcasters are up to in the digital arena during last weeks conference in Brussels.

The European Broadcasting Union believes the future of radio is digital broadcasting. It will be multi-platform, with the internet complementing services not superseding them, and for all this to work Europe needs EU wide digital radio policies from government. On this everyone, including ourselves, agree.

It came across very strongly that the EBU, not only considers DAB+ as the platform of choice, but they are matching aspiration with action and actually doing it. Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the UK, Italy and more are leading the way.

However, with all this impressive progress, I’m wondering what happens to the “little guy”? The commercial operator covering just one city. National DAB+ coverage is not much use to these stations.

This is the number one question we are asked by local stations here in Ireland. I believe the solution is regional digital broadcasting.

Current FM signals bleed significantly into neighbouring markets as it is and JNLR consistently shows very low listenership to those out-of-market stations. People listen to the station most relevant to them. Few people in Limerick listen to neighbouring stations in Kerry or Clare who rarely, if ever, talk about Limerick! With regional digital broadcasting existing stations maintain their coverage yet still make major savings of transmission costs.

Back at the EBU, a point made time and time again, was that DAB+ launches most successfully when public and commercial broadcasters work together in unison with regulators, receiver & car manufacturers and retailers.

This is a model we are most definitely adopting here in Ireland.

Most are listening on 3G with the result that listening to radio eats up their data plan and flattens their battery fast! It’s also costing the broadcaster in infrastructure costs and additional royalty payments.

The beauty of radio broadcasting is that you have flat-rate transmission costs regardless of audience size.

A new development from RadioDNS offers the best of both worlds. The listener’s app will stream as normal but when within range of an FM or DAB signal it flips over to that without listener intervention. Instant saving on bandwidth and data plans for everyone!

The app was demonstrated at the NAB Radio Show in Chicago last week and you can see a video below. Notice how the visual information remains the same regardless if the audio is IP or broadcast.

SiriusXM has been enjoying success in the USA with their satellite radio service.

It gives listeners over 180 commercial-free radio stations which can be heard coast-to-coast across the States. Channels include oldies, Top 40, Sports, Comedy and the most famous of the all, the Howard Stern channel.

Satellite radio receivers are factory installed in many cars where drivers get a three month trial period, after which, a large amount convert to paying subscribers. There are also home and portable receivers as well as online access.

This new type of radio is now coming to Ireland via a service called EUR Radio. It’s being established by Dublin company Solaris who are backed to the tune of €150m by Eutelsat and SES-Astra.

Solaris are licenced to broadcast to all 27 EU states not only via satellite but also local terrestrial transmitters in weak satellite reception spots. The result is a flawless radio signal from Croatia to Conneamara.

How does this affect the Irish radio industry?

Well two thirds of the Irish audience have access to less than eight stations (six national, one regional and one local). All of these carry significant talk content. A new operator coming to the Irish market with 150+ radio services is an attractive proposition.

In addition, because EUR Radio is Europe-wide and delivered by satellite, foreign operators can beam services into Ireland without any recourse to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.

EUR Radio may or may not work in this market but one thing is for sure; if we don’t have an alternative such as that offered by DAB in place, we’re leaving the door wide open.

A brief update on DAB worldwide, compiled by ourselves, was published in the Sunday Business Post yesterday. A scan of the article is here and full text is below;

Real growth is being experienced worldwide by DAB the new digital radio system designed to replace FM.

It’s easy to see the attraction. DAB broadcasts multiple stations simultaneously meaning significant cost savings over the, one station per transmitter, FM system. This extra capacity opens significant expansion opportunities to commercial radio and DAB’s ability to broadcast text and pictures is a bonus for advertisers. Listeners win too with an easy to use radio and more listening choice.

One of the key markets in the success or failure of DAB is Germany. Not only is it Europe’s biggest radio market but one of the biggest in the world. What happens there will have a knock-on effect across the EU and beyond.

That’s why it’s been such big news that, in August this year, Germany became the latest high-profile nation to launch DAB. One of the driving factors behind this successful launch has been the involvement of commercial operators. Up to now, outside of public service broadcasting, commercial radio has been regionalised with no national commercial network. For the first time ever DAB gives these commercial operators a national platform and they are grabbing the opportunity to invest and greatly expand their market. Working with public/commercial broadcasters, broadcasting regulator and manufacturers, Germany has enjoyed a very effective and co-ordinated launch, with an initial 50%+ reach, set to expand.

This cross-industry approach has also been most successful in Australia’s adoption of DAB where almost 10% of all radio listening is via DAB. This is astonishing growth considering the platform was launched there barely two years ago.

Meanwhile Norway are leading the world by announcing a total migration to DAB by the end of the decade. They had arrived at a crossroads where their national FM network was reaching end-of-life. Did they replace FM or go with the future technology DAB? The latter had a surprising advantage. When FM signals on the same frequency collide, they interfere with each other; hence you need lots of frequencies and lots of transmitters. DAB is the opposite. When signals on the same frequency collide they add together to make an even stronger signal. With Norway being so mountainous this advantage allows them to cover the same area with a third fewer transmitters. When you have 1,200 transmitters in your network this is a massive saving. Also, because DAB carries many stations, the new network will bring a national platform to eager commercial broadcasters.

Finally; the contentious UK market. Being the first to adopt DAB, they have made mistakes along the way, hence the contention! The rest of the world has watched, learned and are not repeating those mistakes. Nevertheless DAB is a popular success for the UK. Usage of the FM system for listening to radio has dropped below 75% and continues to fall. When it slips below 50% the UK will set a date to migrate the majority of radio to DAB as the primary broadcast platform. New national DAB stations like Absolute 80s, Jazz, Planet Rock and BBC 4 Extra continue to grow in every research book. They’ve even reversed a downward trend in overall radio listening with radio consumption, currently up to 91%, growing towards an all time high.

The opposite is true for Ireland. Our overall radio consumption is falling. The majority of the population who live outside Dublin have just eight stations to choose their listening from. This is unlikely to improve as we’ve reached capacity with available FM frequencies.

A growing group within the Irish industry see DAB as the way forward. RTÉ have a DAB network on-air in Dublin, Cork and Limerick carrying their existing four national services plus six new DAB specific stations. Learning from international experience this network is in a holding phase until the commercial sector come on board. Already a commercial DAB trial is underway in Waterford and we have an application with ComReg for another more expansive trial before the end of the year. The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland are also making moves in the area as part of their current work plan.

For our part, in addition to a DAB trial, we are working with DAB transmission and receiver chipset manufacturers to develop systems to greatly improve the non-audio benefits of DAB digital broadcasting. This is centred on the display screen found on every DAB radio and, in particular, making audience interaction with advertising more actionable and trackable.

Radio is an intrinsic part of our every day lives. Its magic has held up well against the onslaught of television in the sixties, and more recently, the internet in the naughties. It’s a proven resilient business and the exciting development of DAB promises a bright ever-growing future.

Massive development for DAB this week with the launch of DAB+ in Germany.

Germany is by far the largest radio market in Europe and one of the biggest in the world. Adopting DAB+ is a huge endorsement of the technology, and if it takes off in Germany, it’s not unreasonable to expect the rest of Europe to follow.

A key factor is the involvement of commercial radio. Until now, the only national German networks have been public service broadcasters. This launch of DAB gives commercial broadcasters a national platform for the first time ever. Being commercially minded you can be sure they will make the most of the opportunity.

Like successful launches in the UK and Australia, this is a co-ordinated cross-industry launch with support from public and commercial broadcasters to manufacturers and retailers. Michael Reichert from the German Digital Radio Project office says;

“Both public and commercial broadcasters have long believed digital is the way forward. Now, for the first time, they are working together to ensure a successfully co-ordinated launch in Germany. The importance of radio now and in the future has been shown by the close co-operation between not only broadcasters but also the network operator, the radio industry as a whole, retailers, manufacturers and the Government. These are exciting times for both listeners and Germany’s radio industry.”

The new service is available in all major cities and motorway routes with 14 brand new digital services.

This is one of the most significant launches of DAB with Germany leading the UK, Denmark, Switzerland, Norway, Italy, Malta, Hungary, The Netherlands, Australia, Hong Kong and Indonesia with DAB as their national digital radio standard.

“Ford drop CD from In-Car radios” scream the headlines.

As ever things aren’t quite that dramatic! I was speaking with Eddie Murphy, the Head of Ford Ireland, who said any move regarding in-car entertainment is a gradual one. The future for Ford is USB mp3 drives, aux inputs, DAB and even connections to cloud services.

One gradual move becoming evident with all manufacturers is the inclusion of DAB as standard in all new car models. As a presenter of a motors programme, every day I get press releases about new motors, and almost every one of them include DAB as standard. While this is a UK trend it does show the motor industry is behind digital broadcasting.

Sadly, as DAB is still in it’s infancy in Ireland, Ford have no plans to include it as standard … YET. In the meantime Eddie and I reminisced about in-car cassettes which both of us had in our respective cars less than 10 years ago.

FM in the UK continues its downward fall.

The latest RAJAR market trends released yesterday shows a market share for analogue (AM & FM) has fallen to 65.4% with the remainder of listening done on growing DAB and digital platforms.

The big winners are digital only stations like Jazz and Planet Rock. Absolute Radio have also done phenomenally well with about half their listeners tuning in on DAB, Freeview and online. Not bad for an AM licenced station!

What I also find interesting, is that this churn is actually driving an increase in listening, up to 91.6% of all adults now use radio weekly. In Ireland it’s the opposite trend with last weeks JNLR’s showing the majority of stations are static or dropping. Even worse, radios overall reach is still stuck at 85%.

Love it or hate it .. DAB is shaking up the radio industry.

One of the worlds largest radio groups, Clear Channel (USA), has said the industry must “make the digital revolution come to radio”.

The call, made by Clear Channel Chairman Bob Pittman, follows last weeks call by one of Ireland’s most powerful ad agencies for Irish radio to properly embrace digital also.

Mr Pittman is particularly qualified to make the call. Before leading Clear Channel he was a co-founder of MTV and COO of AOL. Speaking at a major advertising conference he said embracing digital brings “real benefits to the radio business and to our listeners.”

Stateside people spend 3.1 hours per day with TV and 2.1 hours with radio. This beats the 1.9 hours spent with the internet and 0.5 hours with newspapers. Yet, having such a large chunk of daily media consumption, radios cost-per-thousand (CPT) at $5.35 is significantly lower than other media.

The same is applicable in Ireland where, despite radio enjoying an even larger slice of the media day, CPT here is one of the lowest of all Irish media.

By embracing digital via websites, online players, podcasts, social media and best of all, the screen right there on a listeners DAB receiver, radio will make engagement with the audience stronger. The result is real benefits to the radio business and to our listeners.

That’s two notable leaders from different sides of the industry both saying the exact same thing.

Food for thought.

Radio needs to embrace digital and start doing some joined up thinking. That was the message to the Independent Broadcasters of Ireland (IBI) conference this week from Peter McPartlin, Strategy Director at Ireland’s largest media buyer Carat Ireland.

Advertising has changed and a new Bought-Owned-Earned model is in play.

Bought Media like radio/tv/print advertising is now just part of an overall plan. Traditional media is now sharing with Owned Media such as the advertisers own website, sponsored events, retail outlets etc and the most effective of all, Earned Media, where a brand is recommended on social networking sites by “real people”.

Mr McPartlin says radio needs to embrace digital using websites, online players, podcasts, social media and more to really engage with listeners and leverage the audience to act a certain way. The days of simply quoting JNLR numbers to make a sale are disappearing.

We have one problem with this. Most of the digital interaction required is done away from a radio set. So do broadcasters push listeners towards other media devices such as their phones and computers OR does radio integrate this digital interaction right into the point of consumption, the radio set itself?

We believe the latter. We know it can be done. In fact, we will do it before the end of this year. And you can bet our first visit will be to one Mr Partlin in Monkstown.