Audio makes Radio Sexy Again

It was just a few years ago that along with other heritage media such as print and television, radio was expected to wither and die in the face of tough competition from new and emerging media.

 
Radio, argued the pundits, had lost its mojo. It was no longer sexy. Media buyers would desert it and pursue new and more exotic adventures in the newly dubbed “audio” sphere to be found online and in social media to which audiences were rapidly migrating in droves.
 
According to the latest study from IAB, as most predicted, new players in the aforementioned audio space – podcasting, audio books, digital radio and streamers such as Spotify – have grown exponentially in both audience size and revenue share over the past few years with much more growth to come. Yet, there’s no evidence that that growth has been at the expense of terrestrial radio. In fact, radio remains in rude health and has maintained strong revenues over the past decade.
 
It seems that far from these new forms of audio “eating radio’s lunch” they have contributed to radio’s success by reinventing audio as a whole new sector with radio still at the top in terms of revenue and audience penetration. To its great credit, the radio industry, both public and commercial, were quick to seize upon the benefits of time shifting content and created their own podcast divisions to grab a piece of the new audio pie.
 
As the IAB report shows, ad buyers seem more convinced than ever of the merits of audio in terms of its ability to reach audiences in the most personal, one on one, manner in a far more cost-efficient way than video. What’s more audio is the only medium that allows the listener to do something else while listening. 
 
In this age of the time poor, more and more people are opting to buy an audio version of a book so that they can have it read to them while they drive or exercise, walk the dog, play a computer game or potter around the garden at the same time.

Below are a few of the slides shown at the IAB presentation held yesterday at the Sydney offices of Price Waterhouse Cooper.

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