Month: November 2022

Three E’s — economics, environment and emergencies — will drive the case for DAB+ adoption, said WorldDAB President, Patrick Hannon, opening the organisation’s annual Summit in London on Thursday.The annual Summit was held in-person for the first time in three years. It brought together more than 375 delegates online and in-person, from over 60 countries around the world, and was hosted by technology journalist, Spencer Kelly. The Summit is organised by WorldDAB, the global industry forum for DAB digital radio.“DAB+ offers lower costs of distribution than FM, coupled with lower energy requirements, and greater resilience in emergencies, especially out of home,” said Hannon. “It’s essential to protect the core benefits of broadcast radio – it’s free to air, universal and reliable in emergencies. DAB+ is key to securing this,” he added.This was supported in keynote sessions, with Shuja Khan, CEO of UK communications infrastructure company Arqiva, arguing that governments need to safeguard broadcast services – not just in the short term but to 2040 and beyond. “DAB is here to stay – it’s embedded in the lives of radio listeners,” said Khan. Matt Payton, CEO of UK commercial radio trade body Radiocentre, noted the potential threat posed by tech giants positioning themselves as powerful gatekeepers between broadcasters and listeners, a concern echoed by Jean-Eric Valli, President of Les Indés Radios, a group bringing together 129 French local radio broadcasters.Innovative new DAB+ services from around the world were highlighted at the Summit, including the newly launched ANTENNE NRW in Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia. Its Managing Director, Julia Schutz, said that the station had gone from an idea to a contender within just one year – but also noted that “developing DAB+ is not a sprint but a marathon.” France’s first “100% positive” radio station dedicated to wellness, AirZen Radio, was represented by its Founder, Anne-Marie de Couvreur, who explained the DAB+ station’s mission to help the French to live better.Speakers emphasised the need for continued collaboration between the radio and automotive sectors, to ensure radio’s continued dominance of in-car audio, and to optimise the experience for listeners. Diana Franganillo from Strategy Analytics said that “radio remains royalty” in the car. To strengthen this position and remain relevant, Franganillo advised providing content for younger listeners as the next generation of car buyers, synergising with other services to provide a holistic user experience for drivers and remaining alert and creative to the advent of autonomous vehicles.David Holroyd, Director of Technology for Europe’s largest radio group, Global, in conversation with Lindsay Mack from BBC Sounds, said that Global provides a range of metadata, such as station names and logos, for in-car use through DAB and RadioDNS hybrid radio. Holroyd added that while he was cautious about making in-car screens too busy, programme and schedule data could also add value for listeners, alongside ‘now playing’ information.Gregor Pötzsch from CARIAD, part of Volkswagen Group, showed how this looked in-car and said he expected that in the future, dashboard devices would feature recommendations for listening and greater incorporation of podcasts and online broadcasts. Joe D’Angelo from Xperi spoke about the challenge of personalising radio services and the growth of tuning and location data available from receivers available to broadcasters. 3.6 billion “measurement events” were captured by DTS Autostage in 2022, and D’Angelo expects this to increase to over 90 billion next year.Meanwhile, the growth of small-scale DAB+ was covered by Donald McTernan from Ujima Radio in Bristol, England, who emphasised the social gain benefits that low-cost access to the digital airwaves can bring. 148 stations now broadcast in on newly launched small-scale DAB multiplexes across the UK. […]

The GfK Radio Audience Measurement Survey (RAM) Wave 2, 2022 reported a new high for Malaysian radio as listenership reached almost 97.2% of individuals in Peninsular Malaysia, equivalent to a high of 21.6 million weekly listeners, marking a phenomenal increase of 300,000 from the previous survey. From this, Astro Radio continued its stronghold as the No. 1 local radio with 16.1 million weekly listeners or 74.6% of 21.6 million available radio listeners, strengthening its leadership as the radio operator with the highest number of listeners in Malaysia.Astro Radio’s increased reach in radio listenership is underpinned by 18.4 million average digital radio streams, 26.6 million social media followers, 177.4 million video views, and 75.1 million monthly average Facebook post reach.Astro Radio brands continued to lead as No. 1 across all languages: Hitz FM, the No. 1 English brand; ERA, the No. 1 Malay brand; MY, the No. 1 Chinese brand; and RAAGA, the No. 1 Tamil brand. Astro Radio Malay brands recorded a reach 9.7 million listeners equivalent to 69.0% reach, English brands achieving 3.7 million listeners equivalent to 85.6% reach, while Chinese brands amassed 3.5 million listeners translating to 70.7% reach and the Tamil radio brand marking 1.6 million listeners equivalent to 86.1% in reach.
With 2.4 million weekly listeners, Hitz FM achieved an increase in the highest ‘Exclusive Audience’ for English brands at 356,000 listeners, the Highest Breakfast segment for English brands with 1.1 million listeners and the Highest Drive segment for English brands with 1.2 million listeners.
Mix FM recorded an increase to 1.3 million weekly listeners, with the Breakfast segment increasing to 617,000 while the Drive segment increased to 636,000 listeners.
Lite FM charted an increase in weekly listeners to 855,000 with Breakfast and Drive segments respectively increasing to 406,000 and 393,000 listeners
ERA, also Malaysia’s No. 1 radio brand, recorded weekly listenership of 5.3 million, and continued to achieve Malaysia’s highest weekly reach on radio amongst young Malay listeners between the ages of 10 to 29, with 2.7 million listeners. The Breakfast show remained No. 1, recording 2.8 million listeners, and the ERA Drive Show remained the highest with 2.4 million listeners. ERA also achieved an increase for the Highest Exclusive Audience amongst all radio brands to 1.0 million.
SINAR, remained Malaysia’s second most-listened-to brand overall and the No. 2 Malay-language radio brand in Malaysia, with a recorded weekly listenership of 5.0 million weekly listeners. SINAR Breakfast segment increased to 2.6 million while Drive segment marked 2.3 million weekly listeners respectively. SINAR also recorded an increase in Exclusive Audience to 865,000.
GEGAR, Malaysia’s No. 1 radio brand in the East Coast, recorded a reach of 2.1 million weekly listeners consisting of approximately 39% from Kelantan, 20% from Pahang, 23% from Terengganu and 17% from the West Coast.
ZAYAN recorded weekly listenership of 321,000 with the Breakfast segment increasing to 172,000 listeners while the Drive segment garnered 151,000 listeners.
Weekly listenership on MY was recorded at 2.7 million weekly listeners with the Breakfast and Drive segments achieving the highest number of listeners across Chinese radio brands with 1.6 million and 1.6 million respectively. MY also recorded an increase in its Exclusive Audience to 728,000.
MELODY increased its weekly listenership to 1.2 million weekly listeners, with Breakfast and Drive shows increasing to 658,000 and 634,000 listeners respectively.
GOXUAN achieved an increase in its weekly listeners to 244,000. The Breakfast segment recorded an increase to 115,000 listeners while the Drive segment recorded 102,000 listeners. GOXUAN also marked an increase in its Exclusive Audience to 50,000.
RAAGA, Malaysia’s No. 1 Tamil radio brand recorded a weekly listenership of 1.6 million, where the Breakfast and Drive segments recorded 863,000 and 879,000 listeners each.
The survey was carried out over 6 weeks with a mix of traditional radio diaries (75%) and e-diaries (25%) distributed to 6,000 unique individuals across Peninsular Malaysia to capture their listening habits. 21 commercial radio brands subscribed to this wave and Astro Radio secured 7 positions in the Top 10 brands ranking.Data source: GfK Radio Audience Measurement (RAM), Wave 2 2022 | Facebook Page Reach: Facebook Business Manager (Aug – Oct 2022) | Digital Streams: Radioactive (Aug – Oct 2022) | Website Unique Visitors/Page Views: Google Analytics (Aug – Oct 2022) | Video Views: Facebook Creator Studio, CrowdTangle, YouTube (Oct 2022) | Total Social Media Followers: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok (Oct 2022) […]