MULTIMEDIA MEETS RADIO 2012

Experts from nine member organisations in as many countries have contributed to the EBU first-ever forecasts about the year ahead for radio. It provides a series of snapshots of the current situation in nine countries from the perspective of public service radio, as a springboard for predictions about where the medium will be in 2013.

Above all, the forecasts underline the fact that digital terrestrial broadcasting is the only way to deliver radio to mass audiences efficiently and cheaply, both in terms of distribution, and of consumption. At the same time, the internet offers unique opportunities for building communities and for attracting younger listeners.

This is of critical importance at a time when youth stations across Europe have been losing listeners to online music services like Spotify, Deezer and Pandora. In 2012, more broadcasters may respond by following Swedish Radio’s example of putting radio content on Spotify, “to reach an audience we would not otherwise reach,” as the New Radio Group Chairman, Mats Åkerlund (SR), writes, quoting SR’s Deputy Director Cilla Benkö.

On the technology front, in 2012 more consumers will acquire smartphones and tablets, as manufacturers launch cheaper devices.

First the bad news: Mark Friend (BBC) observes that for the time being very few connected, mobile devices offer any kind of broadcast radio reception. However, Jørn Jensen (NRK) reports the good news that digital radio chips are now small enough to fit into tablets and smartphones.

The breakthrough means that consumers, struggling under the strain of expensive online plans, will be able to demand zero-cost broadcast services. Meanwhile, on the supply side, manufacturers will install the new chips because the additional costs are negligible, and they will boost sales.

Elsewhere, Michael Reichert (ARD) neatly encapsulates the group’s common vision that, “multimedia is meeting radio”. Broadcasters will have to produce more visual content for smartphone and tablet users, in the same way that newspaper editors commission pictures to add colour to printed stories.

Expect new and exciting visual content to complement traditional radio output, as 2012 will be a very important year in both news and sport. Events like the US and French presidential elections, or UEFA Euro 2012 and the London Olympics, will get the creative juices flowing.

The hybrid technology RadioDNS, which combines the strengths of broadcast and the internet, will enable broadcasters to fill blank screens with descriptive text, social media feeds, maps, medal tables and slideshows.

Writing from a strategic perspective, JP Coakley (RTÉ) and Laurent Finet (RTBF) emphasise the importance of partnerships between the public and commercial sectors. Some commercial broadcasters have been reluctant to abandon an analogue FM business model that has served them well, and the global financial crisis has only exacerbated the situation.

Over the course of the next 12 months more commercial radio executives may open their eyes to the potential for targeted advertising and new revenue streams that digital radio offers. Hopefully, this will kick-start digital radio in those markets where it has stalled.

Erik Kjeldsen (DR) underlines the importance of offering audiences a greater diversity of content. In 2012 broadcasters will offer listeners more than ever before, including pop-up radio stations tied to events like the London Olympics, or new digital channels for children and teenagers, such as the one that Filip Rozanek (CR) describes.

Luigi Maria Aliberti notes that a sizeable part of the audience listens in-car, with numbers ranging from roughly 30 per cent in the UK to 70 per cent in Italy. Not only are cars vital for radio’s future, but digital radio technologies, like TPEG, could further help to save lives with timely, relevant and free traffic information.

2012 will see greater collaboration between broadcasters and the automotive sector. We will see receivers enabled for digital and FM fitted as standard in new cars so that radio can be a constant companion when driving across international borders.

For all these reasons, EBU Radio’s flagship Multimedia Meets Radio conference will take place in Italy’s automotive capital, Turin, on 19-20 September 2012, at the kind invitation of the Prix Italia. The event will look at how broadcasters are exploiting technologies to create exciting content not only for people at home, but also for those on the move.

MMR12, is taking place in Torino on 19th and 20th September at the kind invitation of the Prix Italia. Registration is free for all EBU Members.