Multiplatform Radio

Why more Digital Platforms will mean listening and increase interactivity

Download Pdf

Introduction

What this publication is about.

The media landscape is currently undergoing a number of structural changes, due to the rapid advance of digital technology. Traditional media now find themselves in a position where they need to adapt and evolve relevant to the constitution of this new media world order.

The new media order has led to the development of a different consumer proposition – one characterised by proliferation of choice and control. Media/creative agencies and advertisers have begun to reconsider their approach, and develop new marketing strategies accordingly.

At first sight radio seems well-set to benefit in the converged future. This is partly because of its ability to co-exist alongside other technology – in addition to analogue and DAB sets, radio is now delivered via Digital TV (e.g. Sky and Freeview), Internet, and Mobile Phone. It is also because listeners are generating new complementary roles for radio, for example:

• At any given time 20% of Internet users are listening to radio (source: IAB/RAB study 2005)
• BT Movio trials highlighted that even when TV is available on mobile phones, users still engaged in more radio listening than TV viewing
• 60% of i-Pod owners said ‘hearing a band on the radio’ was their prompt to load new content onto their i-Pod (Source:RAB Digital Music Study)

But how will these new platforms affect the development of radio listening? This publication reports on the findings of a dedicated research project – the RAB Platform Listening Study – to show how the medium is evolving and offer insights to advertisers and agencies about the implications for planning.

Executive summary

In the converged digital future, radio’s ability to complement and co-exist on developing technologies will help increase Commercial Radio listening and create new opportunities for brands to interact with consumers.

Radio, in addition to traditional analogue, is now available on a number of different platforms – DAB, Digital TV, Internet and Mobile Phone. Regardless of the platform, the reasons for listening remain the same - company whilst doing something else, or for relaxation.

However, the new digital listening platforms are expanding the opportunities for brands to connect with consumers:

1. More listening platforms are increasing the number of potential consumption points, ensuring advertisers can target more:

• Listening touchpoints
• Modes and mindsets
• Spaces and places

2. New listening platforms and digital-only stations will grow overall Commercial Radio listening hours:

• 59% of digital radio listeners claim they listen to more radio since they started listening via the new digital platforms

3. More interaction opportunities for listeners, opening up new channels of communication for advertisers:

• DAB Display Text (DLS) and the EPG
• DTV Red Button
• Internet Banners / Podcasting
• Mobile Phone SMS, BT Movio, Visual Radio

Background

What is ‘digital radio’?

As radio evolves into the digital age, it is worthwhile defining exactly what we mean by digital radio. It is sometimes mistakenly assumed that the term ‘digital radio’ refers only to DAB radio (radio which is transmitted via Digital Audio Broadcasting).

Whilst DAB is the fastest growing platform it is important to understand that digital radio is radio via any digital platform, and perhaps in simple terms could be better defined as “multi-platform” radio.

In addition to traditional analogue radio, radio is now accessible via a number of different platforms. The four main platforms (and those that will provide the focus of this book) are DAB, Digital TV, Internet and Mobile Phone:

DAB (Digital Audio Broadcast)

A new way of broadcasting radio via a network of terrestrial transmitters, bringing listeners more choice, improved sound quality, ease of tuning and extra information capacity (display text).

DTV (Digital TV)

Listeners can now tune into radio via digital TV (Sky, Cable and Freeview). Stations are easily found using the electronic programme guide.

Mobile Phone

Mobile phones with radio receivers are becoming a part of everyday life, increasing opportunities to listen to the radio whilst on the move.

Internet

As broadband take-up continues the Internet is becoming an increasingly popular way to listen to the radio, offering listeners infinite station choice.

How is digital technology evolving radio?

The evolution of radio in the digital age has been led, as with all other media, by technology rather than by consumers.

To help us understand this, and what it might mean, it is worth looking more closely at a parallel development from the twentieth century – the evolution of the telephone.

Twenty years ago the norm was for one telephone set per household. Generally it was a fixed instrument tethered to the wall, and its sole function was to allow people to communicate verbally over long distances.

The evolution of telephony has seen the development of the portable and ubiquitous device that we now know as the mobile phone. Technology has significantly enhanced the phone in terms of functionality and what people can do with it – it has multiple interfaces enabling users several different ways of interacting with one another i.e, via SMS, VOIP, Pictures and Video Messaging etc.

The evolution of radio parallels neatly with this:

Radio in its original form (pre-television) was a primary medium, people actually used to sit round the radio and listen to it!

The evolution of radio has seen the development of a more portable multi-platform medium, significantly enhanced in terms of functionality enabling listeners multiple interaction points i.e. red button, mobile phone, display text, visual radio.

This process of change has raised a lot of questions about how, where and when people might listen in the digital age. Existing audience research doesn’t adequately answer all of these questions, and that is why the RAB commissioned the Platform Listening Survey.

Chart 1: Telephone has evolved.

Chart 2: The evolution of Radio.

The RAB Platform Listening Survey

As of June 2006, 16% of all Commercial Radio listening was via digital platforms. This represents growth of 46% compared to the previous survey (Nov 2005) – a rate of growth that appears set to continue, for several reasons:

• DAB sales are consistently exceeding forecasts
• Younger audiences are showing a greater propensity to embrace the new listening platforms
• Radio’s continued integration onto new platforms and devices such as MP3 players, DAB on mobile phones

But the growth in digital listening is raising some fundamental questions:

How will radio on these new platforms fit in / or around people’s lives?

Will the new digital listening platforms have an impact on listener behaviour and consequently listening patterns?What will these changes mean for advertisers?

To further our understanding of how listening might evolve in the increasingly multi-platform radio future; we commissioned new research with Clark Chapman.Quantitative research was used to enable a better understanding of how the new digital platforms might impact listening behaviour in terms of:

• Time and location of listening
• Modes and mindsets
• Time spent listening
• Propensity to interact

The research consisted of a self completion online questionnaire with a total sample of 550 adults who claimed to listen to one or more of the four key digital listening platforms (DAB, DTV, Internet and Mobile Phone), at least once a week.

The key findings

1. Digital platforms are opening up new touchpoints for radio listening, allowing advertisers to target more:

• Listening occasions
• Modes and mindsets
• Spaces and places

Radio has traditionally had, unlike some other media, many different "touchpoints" during the listener’s week, and these vary according to where the listeners are and what they are doing.

The medium’s auxiliary qualities enable it to accompany key task related modes such as waking up / getting ready, and the journey to and from work or school (morning and evening drive-time). The new listening platforms will help to grow and extend radio’s presence by enabling access to even more touchpoints throughout the day.The rapid increase in household broadband penetration has led to significant increases in Internet usage, with 'always on' technology making it easier for people to access their favourite radio stations whenever they are online.

Digital TV penetration has also snowballed: Sky is available in over 8m households and Freeview is increasingly becoming a second set purchase (finding its way into bedrooms and kitchens where radio listening tends to be more commonplace).

Listening via mobile phone is capturing people when they are in the ‘third space’, when people are not home or at work/school but getting from A to B. Radio’s ability to be consumed whilst on the move allows it to fit well with mobile devices.

The chart shows how the new platforms have a different profile at different times of day.

It is interesting to note the strength of DTV and online platforms in driving listening in the evening, a time when radio has traditionally played second fiddle to TV.

More touchpoints = more modes and mindsets

The increased number of listening touchpoints means that advertisers can capture people in more modes and mindsets.The four main digital listening platforms reach people in very different modes and mindsets.

Listening via DAB has a tendency to reach people in a ‘hurry hurry’ mindset, i.e. when they are getting up and ready in the morning. Whereas people tend to be in a more relaxed mode or mindset when listening via the TV – an accompaniment to the evening wind down.

70% of all online listening takes place when people are surfing the Internet, further corroborating RAB / IAB research which demonstrated that at any given time 20% of all online users are listening to the radio. As broadband penetration continues to grow it is logical to assume that the conjunction of online usage and radio listening will increase yet further.

More touchpoints = more modes and mindsets

The new digital platforms also mean that radio is listened to in new spaces and places.

As with modes and mindsets, each listening platform has distinctive features in terms of listening spaces or places. In 2006 the computer is mainly used in the home living spaces, although we can expect this to change as wi-fi and laptops become more established

.Likewise, while the TV is currently linked very much to the main viewing room, the introduction of the Sky Gnome (a portable device that streams audio off the Sky box and enables you to listen to radio anywhere in 30m radius) should further develop radio’s ubiquity.

Summary

Radio traditionally has been a valuable accompaniment to daily life (radio listening is greater than TV viewing until mid-afternoon). These new radio platforms are increasing the number of potential consumption points for listeners, enabling radio to accompany even more tasks and mindsets (i.e. such as Internet surfing, the evening wind down, walking to/from school) reaching more spaces and places. On the basis of this evidence it seems likely that in media planning terms, radio will actually increase its share of the media day, so radio is well positioned to maintain its relevance and role in people’s everyday lives.

The key findings

2. Digital technology will help to grow overall Commercial Radio listeningAs the chart shows, people who listen to radio on the new digital platforms not only find a wider range of stations which they like, they also tend to spend longer listening to radio. This is clearly good news for radio listening, and particularly for Commercial Radio because the digital platforms are far less dominated by BBC stations.

Digital radio technology is opening up opportunities both for new national radio stations, and also for established local or regional analogue stations to extend their reach to national audiences.

This is enabling more stations to target listeners who share a community of interest (be it a particular musical genre such as classical or rock,jazz or dance music; sports; arts or books). When combined with the growth in radio’s accessibility via new platforms, this should help grow the overall Commercial Radio audience.However, the abundance of stations serving geographical communities will continue to play a key role in people’s lives – keeping them in touch with life on their doorstep and providing useful information.

Our research also indicates that the different modes and mindsets synonymous with each platform are actually impacting the amount of time people spend listening to the radio.We asked our sample how long they perceived themselves to be listening, during their most prevalent listening occasion for each platform.

Clearly listening via DAB in the morning follows habitual listening trends, which reflects the ‘hurry-hurry’ mindset accompanying the morning rush around.

However, the increase in listening platforms means that radio is now more available to accompany key ‘evening-related’ activities – such as relaxing; reading a book; or surfing the net.

This is reflected in the fact that people tend to spend longer listening to the platforms that are most likely to be consumed at this time of day – DTV and online.

Summary

The figures indicate that when listeners access radio through the new platforms, they tend to spend longer listening. This is partly because they have found new stations to enjoy, but also the technology means they can listen to radio at times and in places where it would previously have been unavailable or inaccessible.

The key findings

3. Digital radio listeners are more likely to interact with advertising

Traditionally, one of radio’s strengths as a medium has been the relationship of trust between station and listener. There is a culture of interaction and response which grows out of this. The RAB’s Radio Days study from 2002 revealed that 36% of Commercial Radio listeners had interacted with radio stations in some way. But the way listeners interact is beginning to change. In the past listeners used to write in to stations, then they started phoning in. More recently of course, interaction has migrated to email and texting.

Now, digital radio technology is opening up new and even easier ways for listeners to interact with their radio stations. As a result, digital radio listeners are showing an increasing propensity tointeract in some way with radio content, as the chart demonstrates.

This is bringing advertisers:

• Additional channels of communication
• Closer relationships with consumers
• More accountability

We shall now look at the interaction opportunities now available to advertisers in more detail for each of the different platforms.

DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting)

42% of all DAB listeners have used web addresses / phone numbers seen on the DLS The DLS (‘Dynamic Label Segment’, also known as Scrolling Text or Display Text) is one of the key points of difference between analogue and digital radio. This is basically a data service that is used to complement the audio broadcast.

To date, the function has generally been used to display information about the song or artist currently playing; what is coming up next; the weather; football scores; traffic; etc.

100% of DAB radios now have text displays, and the quality is constantly improving. Advertisers can now enjoy the benefits of combining audio and text communication on digital stations.

Beyond working as an additional branding tool, there are a number of potential different uses:

Direct Response – Advertiser phone numbers, URL’s and SMS short-codes can be constantly repeated and displayed on the DAB data screen.

Sponsorship – Reinforcing on-air sponsorships (promote the show / pre-trails, with display sponsor credits running on the display throughout the relevant show). Opportunity also exists to sponsor specific or bespoke content on the DLS.

Promotions – Enhance on-air promotions by offering additional incentives to participate; visual clues or tips; reminders of entry points and prizes; etc.

At the time of writing functionality that enables listeners to pause and rewind scrolling text is becoming available – which could be described as ‘teletext’ radio. ‘Intellitext’ (available on Pure One radios) is a service that stores information sent by stations (such as news, sport, traffic, weather) so listeners can retrieve it at a later date. It is feasible that in the future stations could use this facility to store advertiser details (e.g. URLs, phone numbers, offers, etc).

Case study: Orange DABverts

Orange ran two ‘DABverts’ (i.e. scrolling text) as visual support to two different on-air radio ads – tracking the responses in order to better understand the capabilities of scrolling text as a direct response mechanism.

One required an SMS response to win an Orange Music Player, whereas one prompted a more considered response – asking listeners to text in with positive reasons for having their phone switched on or off.

Both mechanics drew comparatively high levels of response. However, unlike traditional radio response patterns for Orange, response levels were consistent across all dayparts and decayed at a slower rate. In this context, display text was perceived as working well as a consistent reminder or prompt – enabling listeners to respond at their own convenience.

Case study: Mars ‘Get it 1st’

As a medium with a well-developed culture of response, Mars felt that radio was the perfect choice as the solus launch medium for the Mars ‘Get it 1st’ multi-brand promotion (a text to win promotion – prizes included tickets to London Fashion Week, Glastonbury, Britney in Paris, etc).

Mars used a combination of airtime and on-air /on-screen promotion (via Red Button technology on Digital TV) to encourage listener participation. Spot advertising was used to raise awareness of the ‘Get it 1st’ on-pack promotion. Red Button activity (featuring an on-screen competition) was used to demonstrate the on-pack mechanic and involve listeners in the brand idea.

The campaign was a success, delivering over 1120 entrants via red button activity alone – demonstrating how valuable red button can be in adding incremental response to multi-platform radio campaigns.

Digital TV: red button

36% of all DTV listeners have participated in on-air competitions via the TVRadio can exploit the same red button technology as Digital TV – offering a compelling visual support to radio programmes.

“Red button technology” is a generic term used to refer to using any of the coloured buttons and scroll arrows on the remote control to interact with the screen display that you see when you listen to digital radio via your TV.

This allows the listeners access to competitions / offers / ringtones by pressing the relevant coloured buttons. This can work very well in supporting onair promotions – reaching a new audience visually as well as aurally.

The Internet

37% of all Internet listeners have participated in on-air competitions via the Internet

It is now possible to complement spot advertising with banner ads on a station’s web-based media player. Competitions and other promotional dynamics can be run on the station website, enabling powerful support for branded content activity.

The platforms can also be used interactively with each other. For example, the DLS readout on DAB radios will often direct listeners towards websites – either for the radio station or the advertiser.The Internet also offers a unique radio application: Podcasting. Podcasting is a generic term used to describe the way people subscribe to audio content, usually in MP3 file format. These files are then usually downloaded onto a PC or a digital music player for the listeners to consume whenever they wish.

For advertisers this is particularly interesting, because it offers a very targeted way of reaching specific audiences, because the audience has demonstrated real interest and downloaded the content, rather than hearing it by chance within traditional on-air spot advertising.

Case study: Pepsi Max Podcasts

Pepsi Max needed to reinforce their ‘Don’t Worry There’s No Sugar’ message to the key target audience of 16-24 year old men.

The stations carried out a series of ‘cruel’ wind-ups on listeners during the breakfast shows, and listeners used a microsite to nominate their mates for winding up. The best wind-ups saw the victim win a comedy night out with the mate who nominated them (assuming they were still speaking).

The most excruciating wind-ups were then edited down into a series of 8-minute podcasts which listeners could download onto their iPods / MP3 players and listen to again.The branded podcasts were downloaded over 20,000 times over the 4 weeks of the campaign, and at 8 minutes per podcast this allowed the brand to engage in a very substantial way with listeners.

Case study: The Big Quit

The Department of Health successfully used the strengths of radio in a campaign developed to help motivate smokers to quit in the New Year. They achieved this by encouraging listeners to set a Quit date, educating them about the range of local NHS stop smoking services and rewarding them if successful.

By harnessing the power of the DJ / listener relationship, radio was used in a supportive, empathetic way – offering the listener advice on quitting smoking when they needed it most.

A multi-platform approach was used to support the campaign, with motivational emails, a website (including a money saver calculator, interactive forums, advice etc), downloadable podcasts and also motivational SMS texts. These were sent at key times of day (e.g first thing in the morning, cigarette break times, lunch and Friday / Saturday night) to get them in the right frame of mind for another day as a non-smoker or to help keep them away from temptation.The campaign was a huge success with 5196 text registrations, 2727 email registrations and 3189 podcasts downloaded. Demonstrating how utilising a multi-platform radio approach can maximise response levels, with mobile phone playing an essential part within this communication.

It was the biggest community health campaign ever heard on Commercial Radio (running across all local Commercial Radio stations in the England). A truly ground breaking campaign developed to give the anti-smoking campaign national support on a local level.

Mobile Phones

41% of mobile phone listeners have participated in on-air competitions via their mobile phone

Texting has become habitual amongst younger audiences in society, and SMS shortcodes provide a great way of ensuring an instant connection or response.

The radio stations themselves commonly use SMS as a major form of listener response, with millions of text messages being generated amongst listeners.

There are new developments coming through too. BT Movio, currently scheduled for launch in the summer of 2006, is a mobile broadcast venture that uses the DAB spectrum to distribute live TV and digital radio. All content will be navigated by the UK's first mobile electronic programme guide (EPG), enabling consumers to scroll through services and programmes.

Radio stations can increase listener involvement by using the equivalent of TV’s red button on the phone enabling listeners to participate in competitions, quizzes and polls, as well as downloading music and ringtones.

In terms of advertising, listeners will be able to access more information than they hear on-air. Longer term listeners will be able to express an immediate interest in particular products by passing back their address or phone number or even make an instant impulse purchase, simply at the press of a button.

Visual radio, a collaboration between Virgin Radio, Nokia and Hewlett Packard, is also due to be launched by the end of Summer 2006. It is essentially a new service on a mobile phone, not a new device. It allows a mobile phone user to simultaneously listen to a radio broadcast and receive matching visual interactive content – enhancing traditional FM radio.

As well as information on artists and songs, the service will offer the listener additional factual content and greater interaction opportunities (via competitions, polls, voting, song rating).

"In addition to traditional on-air activity, radio now provides plenty of opportunity to engage with consumers through a number of additional layers of communication. From visual interaction on digital radio screens and Internet radio portals, to response mechanisms such as red button and SMS links to Orange World, these improve the depth of the communication both in terms of the time spent interacting with the brand and what we are able to communicate".

Ian Smith, Head of Media, Orange

Summary

There are now multiple interaction routes for radio stations and advertisers to connect with listeners.

As the listeners become more promiscuous in their choice of listening platform, advertisers have the opportunity to consider a multi-platform radio approach.Advertisers now have the option to complement audio campaigns with text via the DLS. This in itself works very well as a call to action – or signpost to other platforms for further information i.e. Mobile Phone (SMS Shortcodes), or Internet – banneradvertising and podcasts.

Alternatively, mobile devices will also be a powerful way of facilitating an instant response to audio content. For example, BT Movio will enable listeners via red button technology to access deeper levels of information, or even make purchases.

Back to the top, please