‘Our job is to grow radio… ‘ Joan Warner #BroadcastAsia

‘Live, local, reliable and free.’

“Smart speakers have helped reinvent radio for a new generation,” CRA’s Joan Warner told a conference in Singapore today.
 
Opening the radio stream of BroadcastAsia, Warner reviewed some of the doom and gloom headlines about radio’s demise, refuting them as lacking in facts.
 
“While the headlines are telling people that new technology will destroy radio, the facts tell a different story. In the UK the radio business puts a lot of money through the economy…” In Australia radio is outstripping the music streaming services by a factor of about 6 to 1, according to Warner, quoting the statistics that prove the points.
 
In another example of how radio and audio are undergoing a resurgence, she discussed News Corporation in the UK, which is creating a new radio and podcasting operation in its UK headquarters to capitalise on the resurgence of radio.
 
“The best way to protect the future is to create it… Our job is to grow radio… the key to success is not only high quality local content but the ability to embrace change and deliver free high quality content across many platforms.”
 
While broadcast radio remains the core of the business, radio has expanded to every new platform, viewing these new platforms as opportunities not threats… it’s strengths include that is it “live, local reliable and free.”
 
Delivering the keynote of the day, Grant Broadcasters CEO Grant Cameron discussed radio’s road map for the future.
 
“We need to have a clear roadmap so we can navigate the future,” he said.
 
Drawing parallels to a royal kingdom, he said: “Content is king. The king has power but without enforcers power is nothing.  Distribution is the king’s army, the way we project power. Distribution has changed, which is a threat and an advantage…”

Another consideration when planning your road map is the environment, according to Grant Cameron, who says  exploring listener trends and behaviours is an important part in positioning a radio company for the future. “The fundamentals of how humans interact haven’t changed, but there are certainly changes in trends that change as societies change.”
 
With all those changes, what are the possibilities for the future? These are some of the important new areas to consider when planning your road map:
 
Addressable advertising – delivering targeted ads for the individual.
“Radio has been able to deliver to small audience segments, but the internet can deliver to an audience of one. There are now digital variants to achieve the same level of targeting now for radio, but there are issues around, context, relevance and privacy to be considered.”

There are also changes in how ads are bought and sold. 20% of advertising is going to automated ad buying platforms. “An important question for radio stations to consider when planning their road map is, how do we link agencies and advertisers into a digital ecosystem? To create a solution that ties all this together is not an easy task. You need an all of industry agreement to make this work.”
 
Data driven programming insights –
No converastion about technology can ignore machine learning. “When we think about other fields we see that medical imaging systems can recognise cancers better than the best doctors in the field, in accounting, Quickbooks can analyses the cashflow of its users, and is now offering loans based on AI analysis of small business cashflow. Radio companies must look at the data they have in new ways and map out new paths.”
 
Smart speakers
“Voice controlled smart speakers are able to improve our content by allowing our listeners to interact with us in better ways. But do we do this through an aggregator or an all of industry approach? Finding the right way through is important… It is not just about the audio stream, there is more you can do if you tailor your metadata to take advantage of the opportunities of this new technology.”
 
 

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