Bauer outlines plans for radio’s internet-enabled future
The radio market is set for a new period of growth as it embraces online, the chief revenue officer of Bauer Media has said.
Speaking at Mediatel’s Future of Audio (15 Oct), Simon Kilby outlined how the current boom in podcasting, DAB and the rise of online listening – matched with expected growth in connected cars, 5G, voice tech and smart speakers – was driving the market towards a new renaissance.
“The Internet does not break radio,” Kilby said. “It is a fantastic enabler. The more we can extend choice and push our content out on more platforms, whether that’s DAB or IP, it just extends listening and gives us more opportunities.”
Commercial radio is in its fifth consecutive year of growth and captures 36m listeners each week in the UK. In 2018 it also reached record revenues of £700m, and Kilby expects that to be beaten this year. His long-term plan is to see radio eat into online adspend more generally and reach £1bn.
“How big can we make it? How can we move into the digital space and sell digital-audio? That is ultimately what we’re looking to do over the next two years.”
The last four years has witnessed a 23% increase in audio hours consumed in the UK, according to figures from Rajar. Kilby said this was further evidence that the Internet was not negatively disrupting the sector.
Neither, he added, were new entrants such as Apple Music and Spotify, which he viewed as “complementary to the ecosystem.”
Kilby added that the growth of online listening meant the sector was on course to reach an “inflection point” in 2024 when IP is likely to overtake traditional analogue.
“That means we have to ask some fundamental questions,” he said. “Questions around measurement; how we buy and sell; about our trading model, and how we produce and market our content.
“It’s a huge opportunity for radio, agencies and brands. But we must each grasp the consequences now and make the most of our digital future.”
Bauer said it had been fully committed to digital for years, but was now accelerating efforts as it took regional radio brands national. It was also looking to extend reach further through sub-brands of existing radio stations, largely via webcasts.
“Webcasts are new growth area for our business, they’re becoming much more important,” he said. “We’ve had 400,000 new registrations in two months.”
The webcasts are entirely online and require a GDPR-compliant registration to access. Five have been launch since August, with three on the Kiss brand and two on the Heat brand.
“It’s an example of how we’re using the Internet and user data to help produce the content users really want. It’s providing feedback, and we can also use this to boost our advertising proposition.”
Despite the good news for the sector, some threats still lurk on the horizon.
The penetration of smart speakers into UK homes is currently helping deliver growth for radio, but the two biggest owners of the tech – Amazon and Google – could seek control later down the line.
Some experts Mediatel News spoke with suggest US tech giants might turn into “gatekeepers” for UK radio content, ushering in a new wave of competition.