It’s Always Something Else, Right?

Michael Hedges October 8, 2012 Follow on Twitter

Markets can be cruel. Consolidation can be necessary. For the media sector there is no perfect formula. Dynamics, market and otherwise, often point in different directions and change quickly. It’s like riding a shark.

Over the course of last year, Denmark’s radio sector went through a series of changes, one linked to another. The board of public broadcaster DR (Danmarks Radio) elevated Maria Rørbye Ronn to Director General in February 2011 several months after the controversial retirement of Director General Joseph Plummer.  By November a new privately-held public service news and talk radio channel - Radio24syv – was born to compete with DR’s main channel P1 and powered by the national FM network FM4, once operated by DR, and a about €100 million from the public broadcasting household license fee over its eight-year concession.

In early 2010 in-coming Culture Minister Per Stig Moller first offered the idea for a new national radio channel. Shortly thereafter the dominant conservative government coalition enshrined what was then called Radio Moller in law. A few relatively minor but very public scandals involving DR had weakened the broadcaster’s standing, politically and publicly. 

DR’s total audience share has changed very little in the last year, roughly a 75% market share according to the TNS Gallup national survey of the last week in September (week 39). News channel P1’s market share (persons 12+) has dropped to 6.2% from 7.6% one year on, the difference conspicuously equally to the market share of Radio24syv (1.4%). The reconstituted P2 Klassisk, primarily found on DAB digital radio, internet and satellite, posted a 2.2% market share, compared to the 2.9% of P2 when it had FM distribution. Programs of P2 Klassisk also appear on P1’s FM network during off-peak hours.

DR’s regional network of pop music and local news stations P4 remains, on aggregate, the country’s biggest audience draw, posting 41.1% market share in the recently released week 39 TNS Gallup survey, up from 40.3% year on year. National pop music channel P3 holds second spot inn the national survey with 21.7% market share, up from 19.9% one year on.

All DR radio channels are multi-platform, the public broadcaster aggressively developed the DAB digital radio platform over several years and once offered more than two dozen channels. Those, too, have been scaled back over the last two years to eliminate music-only “juke-box” channels. DR has offered regular DAB platform service for a decade and per capita DAB usage in Denmark is the highest in the world, according to WorldDAB (January 30, 2012).

SBS Radio, part of ProSiebenSat Media, dominates commercial radio in Denmark. The owner of national pop music channel Nova FM, local network The Voice and Pop FM acquired New Radio Apsin June, adding Radio 100, Radio Soft and Radio Klassisk to the group. Long serving broadcasting executive Jim Receveur, who once owned Radio 100, was named director of the expanded SBS Radio group in Denmark. Aside from the 300 local and community stations, Denmark’s radio sector is effectively consolidated into public radio DR and commercial operator SBS Radio.

And then there’s Radio24syv. The programming requirement set by the Culture Ministry is detailed and specific, which limited private sector interest. The concession was eventually assigned to publisher Berlingske Media and PeopleGroup, which operate Radio24syv as Berlingske People A/S.  But Berlingske Media has been put up for sale by owner Mecom, a long and slow process. A potential buyer, say Danish media watchers, would likely have little interest in Radio24syv as the most obvious candidates are already invested in Danish media, further consolidating the publishing sector.

See also in ftmKnowledge

Europe’s Radio – Northern Europe

Northern Europe’s radio has a very digital sound. And change is in the air. Economic challenges abound for both public and commercial broadcasters. The ftm Knowledge file reports on Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden and the UK. 144 pages PDF includes Resources (November 2012)

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Digital Radio - Possibilities and Probabilities

Digital radio has many platforms. From broadcast platforms to internet radio and rapidly emerging smartphone platforms, listeners and broadcasters have choices galore and decisions to make. Some regulators have made up their minds, others not, some hedging their bets. This ftm Knowledge file details the possibilities for digital broadcasting and the probabilities for success. Includes Resources 149 pages PDF (August 2012)

Order here