It’s A Whole Digital World… Ad People Rejoice

Michael Hedges August 1, 2019 Follow on Twitter

There should be no doubt. The digital revolution keeps marching on. Every part of the media sphere has joined the parade with drums and bugles. The advertising people are cheering. Even newer technologies coming. The disruption will be profound.

Radio audience estimates from UK joint industry measurement provider RAJAR for the second quarter dropped this week (August 1). Within the volumes of data were several nuggets certain to warm the wallets of commercial broadcasters, the media buyers they serve and digital enthusiasts. Aggregate audience share for commercial radio reached 48.0% of all radio listeners, an all-time high. More than two-thirds of UK households “claim” DAB (digital audio broadcasting) receivers. Nearly one-quarter of digital households use smart speaker devices to interact with radio channels.

First, here are the basics. In the national survey, BBC Radio 2 remains top rated but with a much diminished audience share, lowest in seven years; 16.4% from 17.9% year on year. Pop music Radio 2 changed morning (breakfast) show host at the first of the year. News-talk channel Radio 4 kept second spot with its lowest audience share in more than a decade; 11.1% from 11.7%. It is probably a bit more than Brexit fatigue. Long suffering Radio 1 pushed into 3rd place with 5.9% audience share, unchanged one year on.

On aggregate BBC Radio audience share dropped to 49.3%, lowest in forever, from 51.7% year on year. The preponderance of the decline came from 15 to 45 year olds. All-sports Five Live was unchanged at 8th place nationally, up slightly to 3.2% audience share. Interestingly, digital brand extension Five Extra more than doubled its national audience share to 0.7%. Very hip 6Music was lower and culture/arts channel Radio 3 was up.

Commercial music channel Heart dropped to 4th place, 5.6% audience share from 5.9% one year on. Light music channel Smooth jumped into 5th spot from 7th; 3.8% audience share from 3.3%. Adult-contemporary channel Magic pushed into 10th; 2.3% audience share from 2.0%. Digital-only all-music electro-dance channel rose to 1.1% audience share from 2.0%, mostly on improved distribution. No other commercial channels or brand extensions moved noticeably, up or down. But, there are more of them all the time.

The London market audience results were a bit more mixed, or mixed up. BBC Radio 4, as usual, is top rated; 13.2% audience share from 12.6%, year on year. Second place BBC Radio 2 just crashed; 10.3% audience share from 13.4%. Commercial talk station LBC 97.3 held 3rd spot. Heart London moved into 4th, 4.5% audience share from 3.7%. Classic FM took 5th; 4.5% audience share from 3.3%. Capital London, BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 3 and Capital Xtra were noticeably up. Kiss London, Absolute London and BBC Five Live were lower.

Radio’s digital future is emerging platforms. This is certainly the commercial radio reality as advertisers demand new levels of data capture. Analogue and DAB platforms are not great fonts of granular information. Information flows one way. Mobile platforms grab a bit more; 5G even more.

Whether powered by online or mobile technologies, smart speakers - from Google Home to Amazon Alexa and others - can capture reams of data, from the contents of your refrigerator, name of your cat and mood from one moment to the next. The advertising people want all of this. It is not simply programmatic targeting. Ad people talk about “building conversations” with consumers. Think disintermediation… and Alexa.

See also in ftmKnowledge

Digital Transitions

Media's transition from analogue to digital has opened opportunities and unleashed challenges beyond the imagination. Media is connected and mobile yet fettered by old rules and new economics. Broadcasters and publishers borrow from the past while inventing whole new services. This ftm Knowledge file explores the changes. 88 pages PDF (March 2012)

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