The fight for our digital listening hours has begun

Mediatel’s ‘The Future of Audio’ conference has seen several brands stake a claim in the digital audio future.

66% of the UK’s population now listen to audio via a digitally connected device, throughout the week and as the way consumers listen to audio evolves, it opens up opportunities for growth and competition, within audio advertising.

Spotify looks to take on traditional in-car live radio

Spotify has announced plans to launch driving playlists and increase investment in podcasts in a move to demonstrate they are ‘absolutely focused’ on growing their share of in-car listening.

Currently, the most common type of in-car audio consumption is via FM/AM or DAB live radio. Only 8% of those surveyed in Ofcom’s Media Nations 2019 report listen to music via a streaming service, and only 4% listen to podcasts.

However as in-car media systems such as Apple Carplay and smart voice assistants such as Siri and Bixby improve, it will be even easier for consumers to listen to their own music and podcasts in-car.

Bauer to build on digital growth

Another brand to embrace digital growth is Bauer Media. Their digital station, KISSTORY, is now the largest digital radio station in the UK with over 14 million users. 2019 has also seen successful debuts from Country Hits Radio and Scala Radio.

Chief Revenue Officer for Bauer Media, Simon Kilby, outlined how the current trend of in podcasting, DAB, and the rise of online listening matched growth in connected cars, 5G and smart speakers.

Commercial radio is in its fifth consecutive year of growth and captures 36m listeners each week in the UK and since 2015, there has been a 23% increase in audio hours consumed in the UK (Rajar).

Kilby said this was further evidence that the digital age 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.”

However, the growth in connectivity is not without future threats. Smart speaker owners such as Apple and Google may look to branch out in later years, with 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.

Is your brand ready for changes in the way consumers listen to audio? Get in touch today to see how our team can recommend the best way to reach your audience via audio.

RAJAR

Today RAJAR announced 48.2 million adults, 89% of the adult UK population tuned into their selected radio stations each week in the third quarter of 2016.

This is up by approximately 320,000 adults on the same Quarter of last Year (Q3, 2015). The total average number of weekly hours listened to radio for this quarter is 1.038 billion.

DIGITAL LISTENING HOURS

In an average week, digital listening accounts for 472 million hours; DAB has a 71% share of digital listening hours, Online 18% and DTV 11%.

We have put together a brief overview of the top line stats.

Wales

Heart South Wales continues to be the number one commercial radio station in Wales with 484,000 listeners (up 24,000 listeners) 25%, tuning in every week.
Capital South Wales gained 12,000 additional listeners, reaching 201,000 listeners per week
Unfortunately, it wasn’t such a successful Quarter for The Wave, who lost 13,000 listeners, although they still achieve a strong reach of 29%
Radio Pembrokeshire continues to achieve the highest weekly reach of any radio station in Wales at 36%
Listening hours remain strong for Smooth South Wales with the average person listening for 13.6 hours a week – an increase of over an hour per listener a week.
Capital North Wales saw an increase in listeners where Heart North Wales saw a loss of listeners.

National

Capital still remains on top as London’s most popular station with 2.01m listeners, whilst Kiss stays in second place with 1.8m people tuning in. Magic has overtaken Heart for third place with 1.8m and LBC 97.3 has fallen behind in 5th place with 991,000 listeners.
Digital figures remain consistent – 45.5% of all listening is via digital platforms, with 59% of the population now tuning in digitally every week. The largest proportion of digital listening is via DAB radio with 32.3% of all listening hours.
In the digital-only station race, Kisstory has knocked Absolute 80s off the top spot. The station has increased listenership by 23% year on year and now has 1.6m listeners. Smooth Extra has also overtaken Planet Rock for third place with 1.07m and 1.06m listeners respectively.
Chris Moyles has lost 36,000 listeners in London whilst adding 9,000 nationally to his Radio X breakfast show.
The second quarter for talkRADIO gives the station 80,000 extra listeners – now with 304,000 weekly, compared with 224,000 last quarter.

Other Local Stations

Channel 103 in Jersey celebrates its highest ever audience – 56,000 people in a TSA of 87,000 listening, giving it 65% reach.
In Scotland, Clyde 1 has posted a record 660,000 listeners, up from 584,000 a year ago.

The radio industry will be trading from the latest audience figures from Monday 14th November, any bookings made after that time will need to be updated on latest audience figures.
If you have any queries regarding your current radio advertising plans give us a call on 02921 320200.

#LoveMarketing

New audio measurement introduced by DAX.

‘Groundbreaking’ is the word being used to describe the effective new measurement tool for audio introduced by DAX. The new tool will allow advertisers to measure and track the impact of their advertising on a deeper level.

The new ‘Listener ID’ tracking capabilities was announced at the IAB Upfronts last week. Brands are now able to measure the effectiveness of their campaigns on digital audio platforms including SoundCloud, audioBoom, Global’s Heart, Capital and Radio X, and Bauer Media’s KISS.

Agencies and advertisers will now have the ability to profile their audiences based on a range of consumers attributes, while also tracking the user interaction and the journey on their sites to help understand which creative routes are driving traffic for campaigns.

“This is hugely significant and a big step forward for the audio market,” said Mike Gordon, chief commercial officer at Global and one of the founders of DAX.

“The introduction of ‘listener ID’ means that advertisers will have deeper insights into the behavior of listeners after they are served ads, and how different advertising is performing for their brands. We are going to start rolling this out to clients this week.”

‘Listener ID’ will be introduced to brands advertising on DAX – with regular advertisers including Camelot, CineWorld, Go Compare, Asda and Lyst.

If you need help in choosing the right radio stations to use as part of your media mix, we are here to help. Just get in touch with experts from South Wales’s award winning Media Planning and Buying Agency at [email protected] or call on 02921 320 200.

Tag: Audio