Month: September 2023

“CADA is a youth media brand not just a radio station,” Emily Copeland told RadioDays Asia, providing insights into how to attract youth audiences.The station features “one of the most diverse lineups of talent” and has “extended the traditional commercial radio format” to multiple platforms to create a content ecosystem.“Our audience keeps bouncing around in our ecosystem,” which has millions of connections each week, said Copeland. The station is now the number one station in breakfast and drive shifts in the DAB+ Sydney ratings. In six months the station had achieved 1 million podcast downloads of programs such as Flex and Frooms breakfast show and, in the first six months of this year has 20 million TikTok engagements and 77 million on Instagram.“There were a lot of negative headlines around youth audiences and radio, there was discussion about young listeners turning away from radio. But I felt strongly that the problem was not that audiences were turning away, but they radio was not offering them what they wanted in the format they wanted it.”The success of CADA is so far showing that young audiences will embrace radio if the right approach is adopted. Strategies and learnings from the station, which is about 18 months old, include:
18-29s spend a lot of time on their phones, looking for content and connections. These are two things that radio is excellent at providing if you get it right.
The average young listener has a listening span of 8 seconds… our content “needs to move at the speed of youth culture… There are few mediums that can move at that speed, but radio can.”
CADA saw its opportunities for success in:
Multiple platforms
Representation of the target audience
Mainstream – popular music and culture
“When we surveyed our potential audience they said they felt overlooked.” They did not find themselves represented in media and there was no content that interested them. According to Copeland, youth offerings felt vacuous, too focused on celebrity, or too opinionated and political.So what did they want? Copeland asked them and this is what she found:
They dislike ads but don’t hate advertising
They value audience participation and live talent, which is something that music streamers like Spotify cannot offer
They found traditional commercial radio content anxiety producing
They believe that community is important and want to fell part of a community
“To them it doesn’t matter where the content sits… They trust certain content creators just as much as they trust the media platform or brand and station.”With these insights Copeland developed a vision and strategy for CADA, which was originally a Sydney hip hop format.=“We wanted CADA to stand for belonging, to reach audiences wherever they are consuming it. Talent, diversity and cultural credibility have come through faces and voices representing young Australia today.”The station chose on air talent that didn’t necessarily have a background in radio, what they were looking for was that the talent connected with youth audiences. “We have a 3.6 million reach, we reflect what young Australia looks like today.”The station has both a traditional radio studio and a video production studio, which allows it to turn around content at a fast pace.Because the on air talent already have established public roles and other projects, they are not always able to commit to full days at the station, so Copeland has found ways to work smarter to get the most from the talent and devoted a lot of time to helping them learn the new radio environment.We take a content multiplier approach, a one hour recording can make 3 hours of radio and be also be recut for social content.Advertising is integrated into content whenever possible, using a partnerships driven content model. Relevance and community are the keys to attracting the young audience. “Reflect their interests and be where that are,” she said.RadioDays Asia is taking place in Kuala Lumpur this week. More reports on radioinfo.asia. […]

During the morning session of the Radio Days Asia Podcast Day, Norma Jean Belenky, from Podbean Indonesia, addressed the most common mistakes podcasters make within their first 5 years.The following are preventable, podcast pitfalls and some suggested solutions:
Lack of a clear niche:

What makes your podcast stand out?
Be clear on your goals from day one.

Ignoring audio quality

Edit for consistency, note sound consistency, sound signature
Kow that you will grow your podcast quality as you go

Inconsistent release schedule

Consider consistency of publishing, know when your audience is listening and…
Train your audience when to expect your podcast

Overlooking SEO and Metadata

Use keywords so people find you, use transcripts for inclusivity
Optimise content, bite size key take aways and use a trailer for promotion
Always remember the value to audience of your podcast.

Avoiding networking opportunities

Podcasting is all about collaboration so ASK!
Attend conferences
Reach out to Podcasters that share your niche
Explore advertising swaps

Lack of Promotion

Where are you promoting? Remember email newsletters, social media, in app promotion and…
Word of mouth is the number one way method for promotion, mention to a friend, ask them to spread the word
What and when are you promoting?
Launches
Upcoming episodes
Guests

What value are you offering?

Entertainment
Merchandise

Neglecting Engagement

Use social media and respond to contacts and connections

Building a podcast network

Focus on a podcast within a specific niche or target a specific audience.
Cross collaborate and promote within a network, promote new episodes
Develop relationships with agencies and brands that produce target campaigns

Podbean is a podcast creation, hosting, monetization and distribution company operating worldwide since 2015. Almost 700,000 podcasters use the Podbean service. […]