Yesterday’s MediaTel INSIGHT Digital Radio and Beyond Seminar, held in association with MediaGuardian, saw the latest digital radio technology demonstrated, allowing listeners to purchase music and speech content at the press of a button without incurring the high costs of traditional mobile data downloads.
The new system, demonstrated by Simon Cole, chief executive of UBC Media, is “possible using today’s technology, and could be rolled out tomorrow” using existing data spectrum within DAB digital radio broadcasts.
According to Cole, the new system is digital radio’s “killer application,” offering music for a much lower price than similar services from mobile phone networks which rely on costly GPRS data exchanges.
Running on an existing mobile handset, the radio boss explained that UBC have invested £500,000 in the system’s development this year alone, and although “there are a lot of economics to be worked out,” the product should begin rolling out in around six months.
Addressing the audience at yesterday’s event, Cole explained: “This is not iTunes. iTunes is a great idea, but the reality is that your PC or mobile alone does not suggest the music you would like to hear. The truth is that people like to buy music when they hear it. Radio offers that, and station’s using this system have the economic benefit of sales and the advantage of being able to offer the service to listeners.”
Media commentator Ray Snoddy, also sitting on yesterday’s panel, was intrigued by Cole’s demonstration, but claimed: “I don’t see it as a substitute for advertising, and I think a lot of these alternative sources of revenue can be double edged. For instance, once people download music tracks they’re going to start listening to them, and what happens to your audience in the meantime? It goes down of course.”
Ralph Bernard, chief executive of GCap Media was also sure the new technology would fail to replace advertising as commercial radio’s central revenue stream, stating: “These services will only ever be an “add on” – an interesting application for consumers, but I don’t think it will detract from listening because people still listen to the radio in the same way they did 20 years ago, despite all the distractions such as iPods, they adopt these new services as well as listening, not instead of.”
A Digital Radio Executive Report is available to buy at: http://www.mediatelinsight.co.uk/reports priced £225. The report features the latest forecasts and current marketplace dynamics for the digital radio market, including the uptake and listening patterns emerging for this medium, and looks forward to where new technological advances will take radio in the future.
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