Hot topics click link for more
The new normal in media usage
Old platforms and always on
Long ago (and far away) media usage was characterized as an integrated activity, listening to radio while driving an automobile for example. A study in the Netherlands shows how much this is the new normal. Dutch people are spending about one-half their waking hours with media in some respect.
Of the eight hours and 40 minutes average daily media usage, two-thirds (five hours and 15 minutes) is multi-media time, said the Media: Tijd report, released this week (April 4). Exclusive media time – presumably one platform at a time – is consumed three hours and 15 minutes per day, roughly the same as work and school time and an hour more than time spent eating. The base-line study was organized by several agencies and conducted last September and October by GfK. (See more on media in the Netherlands here)
Among those studied, television gets the most attention, three hours a day. Radio listening captures two hours and 48 minutes daily. An hour a day is spent “communicating,” email, phone, SMS, Facebook and such. Dutch people average 30 minutes a day surfing the web. Radio listening falls off on the weekends, easily replaced by TV time.
In sync with conventional wisdom, TV, radio and reading time increases with age while younger people spend more time “communicating” and gaming. Web surfing time is relatively consistent across age groups. Certain to frustrate new media proponents, 93% of TV viewing is on the traditional platform and more likely (83%) consumed without other distraction. Young people are more likely to hook up to TV with mobile devices.
Aggressive bear on TV worries neighbors
Bad memories
The increasingly strident editorial tone in Russian media toward political adversaries real or imagined has been well reported. With conspicuously rare exceptions all Russian media outlets follow the official State version of recent events. Russian media flows easily beyond borders, worrying neighbors.
A little more than one-third of Latvia’s population are native Russian speakers. The country was occupied by the Soviet Union from 1940 until 1991. Efforts to integrate people with Russian roots, particularly older residents living in eastern regions, have left some in something of an information bubble. Latvia is an EU and NATO Member State and joined the Eurozone in January.
“We found the propaganda rhetoric escalating before the November EU summit (in Lithuania),” said Center for East European Policy Studies executive director Andis Kudors to Finnish public broadcaster YLE (April 2). “There was a great deal of disinformation and emotional language. Most Latvians were skeptical but that was not the same for Russians living in this area.”
Russian television and radio channels are widely available in Latvia. Highly produced Russian entertainment programs are tough competition for Latvian broadcasters. “Older people watch a lot of Russian programs,” said Mr. Kudors. “They live in a completely different information world.”
“Russian authorities have a very aggressive line of media control,” said Latvian Foreign Ministry State Secretary Andrejs Pildegovics. “State control is reaching unprecedented proportions. It already exceeds the bad memories we have of Soviet era propaganda.”
Urbanization to grind the wheels
Beam me up, Scotty
Nothing, arguable, symbolizes the modern age like the personal automobile. The appeal has never been limited to individual transportation. Utility doesn’t trump aspiration.
In recent years, the automobile and media have intertwined. Radio broadcasters rely on drivers as a captive audience. While video is usually limited to back-seat use, better not to distract drivers, infotainment systems are essential to automobile sales. And, not to forget, automobile advertising has propelled all media for decades.
Growing urbanization, among other factors, is bringing the gilded age of the automobile to an end. “Urban dwellers will have less of a need to own a car in the future,” said ABI Research analyst Gareth Owen in a recent report. "More car-sharing fleets will inevitably result in fewer personal car sales. This, coupled with increasing average age of cars due to better build quality and reliability all points to a gradual downward trend in car production and sales in the future.”
Students of social trends in technology often point to the personal computer’s arrival in the mid-1980’s as the automobile’s nadir. Going where you want to go jumped off the highways. Replacing the PC in many respects, smartphones are a mix of utility and fashion statement.
“In the future, it is very likely that commuters in urban areas will be able to order a ride to work via their smartphone and be picked up by a driverless cars,” mused the AIB Research analyists, who noted that fewer people are learning to drive. “In fact, self-driving or so called autonomous vehicles could be a key catalyst that enables car-sharing companies to flourish. This may be an opportunity for companies outside the traditional auto industry such as Google.”
Regulator chases pirate stations with paperwork
“the final blow”
Radio stations in Greece operating without benefit of licenses have but a short time to get right with the regulator. Many Greek radio stations and even a few television stations have transmitted from the country’s numerous antenna farms and not actually bothered with registration. They’ve been considered pirates but not, until recently, of the nuisance variety.
Two years ago telecom regulator EETT (Hellenic Telecommunications and Post Commission ) let it be known that this spring would be the end of unlicensed broadcasting. And in mid-March a hard deadline was given. Broadcasters have until April 30th to file documents covering civil aviation interference, environmental impact including a release from the Atomic Energy Commission as well as proof of legitimate use of broadcast frequencies. After all the required documents and studies are submitted broadcaster will wait another 18 month for a decision. (See more on media in Greece here)
Affected broadcasters are freaking out because all that documentation is expensive to prepare and the deadline falls during the Greek Orthodox Easter holidays. “Several thousand euros for the studies may be the final blow for radio stations whose finances are tenuous,” wrote Greek radio web portal radiofono.gr (March 28).
Station promotions for cash going strong
The phrase that pays
Give-aways, contests and competitions are all over the radio. It seems they’ve always been with us, at least on commercial radio channels. As every promotion manager knows, things are nice but cash is king. Perhaps times of financial insecurity makes cash give-aways more attractive, suggests AFP (March 29).
The big national French channels seem to have ramped up cash-aways in recent years or, maybe, the report’s author is just now noticing. Virgin Radio has been paying a listener’s rent for a month since last September. The call-in-to-win promotion runs three times each morning. Occasionally, as if by surprise, a listener’s rent for a year is paid. The phrase that pays: “What station pays your rent?” (See more on media in France here)
Fun Radio’s morning promotion pays a listener’s bills for a month, limit €2,000. Programmers like winner-listeners to have a good story, all the better for the station promo. For the last two and a half years, however, participant-listeners have wanted money for more mundane things like utility bills, said station director Sébastien Joseph. The station budgets about €100,000 a year for this specific promotion.
Station executives accept cash and thing give-aways as a cost of doing business. Accountants grumble. Promotion costs can easily exceed 25% of an annual budget. The Virgin Radio promotion is self-financed, said station manager Roberto Ciurleo, by charges from registration by SMS. “The mechanics allow us to bring in listeners who do not usually listen,” he said. “And it’s very difficult to change listening habits.”
|
