Digital Radio Conference Report
Dominic Riley, marketing manager at BBC Digital Radio, was the first speaker at the Marketing Week\New Media Age Digital Radio conference which took place this week at the Regency Hotel.
Riley began by pointing out the benefits of digital radio as he sees them: CD quality sound; no interference; new stations; easy to use radio; and text, data and picture transmissions.
He went on to say that, according to research by the BBC, 65% of people surveyed said that the most important part of digital radio for them was the improved sound quality, while only 19% and 13% were interested in information services and new stations respectively. The target market for the first digital radio sets would be car CD owners (1.3 million), hi-fi buffs (1.1m), serious music fans (1.3m) and gadget buyers (0.9m).
Qualitative research suggested that those who had tested digital audio broadcasting (DAB) were impressed with the service and didn’t want to give the sets back.
The BBC also predicts that 40% of household in the UK will own a DAB radio set in 10 years, a faster growth rate than satellite or radio managed in their formative years. In terms of its own plans, the Beeb is seeking to launch a raft of national stations which will cover music, sport and news, with further enhanced text/data and multimedia experiments also taking place.
Riley was also encouraged by the interest being shown by manufacturers of DAB sets, with 16 companies unveiling their products in Berlin in August 1997. Stephen Mulholland, editor of BBC digital radio, added that the BBC would be able to bring a strong brand and high quality content to the emerging medium.
Taking the concept of digital radio a step further, Douglas McCallum and Fru Hazlett of Capital Radio, spoke about broadcasting over the internet. McCallum focused on the interactive capabilities of the internet, through facilities such as e-mail, chat rooms and forums. The highly visual nature of the medium is also attractive and for advertisers it has a smaller, more niche audience.
Hazlett also pointed out the number of similarities which exist between radio and the internet, including the attraction of a young audience, the building of trust through content and an output which becomes a part of people’s lifestyles. Hazlett drew the analogy between the popularity of the Capital helpline and the station’s website, which has received 40,000 registrations despite the fact that there is no incentive to use it.
The pair also pointed out how they thought internet radio ads complemented traditional radio ads: on-air ads can be referenced to on-line ads, which can be found 24-hours per day with more in-depth information and competitions available.
David Fletcher, head of radio at CIA Medianetwork, highlighted the importance of the youth market to DAB. CIA Sensor research said that 15-24 year olds were the keenest to adopt DAB, closely followed by men and satellite/cable subscribers. Meanwhile, Rupert Garrett, from Opus sales, focused on the importance of DAB in creating niche channels which will be attractive to advertisers. This in turn will probably lead to more relationship advertising and increasing use of promotional/sponsorship activities which will then create more brand extensions.
For a summary of MediaTel’s digital radio survey, subscribers click The Future Of Digital Radio.