ASIA

Users of the Adthos Ad Platform now have even more opportunities to further personalize or target their audio advertising, thanks to the introduction of more than 75 new data API’s.The new API’s cover a wealth of different interest areas including Sports, Travel, Finance, Retail, News and many more. Advertisers will now be able to add extra dynamic information based on data from sports matches such as football, travel data including TSA and other airport wait-times, and updates from the stock market, forex or crypto. There’s the option to utilize price data from retail giants such as Target and Walmart. And they can also engage their audiences with the latest news from Reuters or Google and help share important public health information on issues such as Covid and Monkeypox.In addition, the Adthos ‘Ads Template’ feature offers the ability to generate ads as part of a suite of pre-produced templates that include many of the data API’s. Users can quickly create high-quality audio ads which can be highly targeted thanks to the easy insertion of these dynamic elements.Raoul Wedel, CEO of Adthos says: “There is so much data out there which can be used to enhance the possibilities to target audiences or share crucial up-to-the-minute information, and these API’s put the power in the hands of advertisers, publishers and broadcasters to do just that. We can wait to see what our users do with these new opportunities – and rest assured we are working on even more for the future! ” […]

Pioneering streaming and podcast solutions provider StreamGuys has announced a trio of leadership promotions and appointments.Eduardo Martinez and Jesse Orr have been promoted to VP of Technology and VP of Engineering, respectively, while Tara Strickwerda has taken on the role of Director of Customer Success.Eduardo has been a key contributor and leader at StreamGuys for over 15 years, most recently leveraging his deep podcasting and streaming experience as the company’s Director of Technology. Always on the pulse of the rapidly evolving digital media landscape, he successfully guides StreamGuys in defining and developing their end-to-end SaaS delivery, analytics, management, and monetization products and services. As VP of Technology, he will continue to oversee the planning, architecture, and design of StreamGuys’ growing range of solutions.As VP of Engineering, Jesse meticulously oversees the company’s extensive infrastructure. He is deeply intertwined with every aspect of StreamGuys’ platform, including deploying new technology stacks that support greater levels of automation; tuning and optimizing existing workflows to ensure “epic uptimes” for clients’ services; and writing scripts to support next-generation services. He continually pushes his boundaries, always learning new methods to solve many complex problems inherent in streaming media and sharing his findings with his skilled teammates.As the Director of Customer Success at StreamGuys, Tara is passionate about identifying and meeting the individual needs of the company’s diverse clients. She joined StreamGuys last year with over 25 years of experience delivering simple to complex solutions across multiple industries. A problem solver by nature and education, she applies her skills to addressing real-world problems faced by clients and organizations. Before joining StreamGuys in 2021, she helped turn a struggling aerospace company into a top-performing supplier for aviation component manufacturing.“Our employees are the lifeblood of StreamGuys’ success, and it’s important to us that we provide career paths that enable them to continue developing and meeting their goals,” said Kiriki Delany, president, StreamGuys. “These appointments not only help position StreamGuys for the next stage of the company’s growth, but are also intended to enable these exceptional individuals to continue their own personal advancement. We’re excited to see what they can achieve for our customers, our company, and themselves in their new roles.” […]

Syeda Iffat Jabbar has been appointed he first ever woman station director in the history of Radio Pakistan Peshawar.Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation Headquarters Islamabad issued the notification of her promotion and she took charge of her office in Broadcasting House Peshawar on Friday, September 24.in 1935, before partition, All India Radio Peshawar Station started its transmission and its first station director was Aslam Khattak, who also served as Governor (erstwhile NWFP) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.Hailing from Peshawar, Iffat Jabbar joined Radio Pakistan as a programme producer. Her father, late Syed Abdul Jabbar, was a well-known broadcaster as well.She has represented Pakistan at various national and international forums including BBC London, Voice of America, British Council, Deutsche Welle Germany, Radio Singapore, Radio Japan, Radio Bangladesh, Australia, Malaysia, and received the successful women awards.During the recent floods in the country, she introduced mobile units to help the flood victims and created public awareness to help those affected by the flood.She expressed her determination to continue working towards the improvement of Broadcasting House Peshawar during her service tenure. […]

The DRM Digital Radio Consortium, its many members and partners in India and the world, together with one of its key members, NXP Semiconductors, will hold their third annual India Automotive Infotainment Forum on September 28.This unique forum for major car OEMs, Tier 1’s, automotive ecosystem partners and Indian broadcasters and regulator, was created three years ago and has continued to grow significantly as all the participants share the desire to address Infotainment solutions that will meet Indian consumer aspirations.The hosts have announced that this virtual event (by invitation only) will be an opportunity to explore the most recent DRM developments globally like the successful DRM FM trial in India, the recently concluded DRM AM and FM trials and demonstrations in Australia, the ongoing developments in South Africa, the continuing DRM FM trial in Denmark, etc.Participants will also learn about the extra applications and benefits of DRM digital radio particularly relevant for the automotive environment, such as DRM Emergency Warning Functionality (EWF). Seasoned technical experts and ecosystem partners will offer sessions of live and interactive presentations and demos with a focus on the automotive industry: DRM for VHF/FM, SW/MW EMV noise mitigation DRM Journaline services and DRM EWF.An important component of the event will be the latest technology and deployment updates from some of the forum members and the live demonstrations of various DRM related innovations and solutions benefitting the automotive industry.Ruxandra Obreja, the DRM Chairman, said: “With over 5 million new cars line-fitted with DRM receivers on Indian roads, the Indian automotive industry has clearly embraced DRM digital radio. It is now ready to welcome a governmental decision in favour of extending DRM radio services to the FM band. This will allow the Indian broadcast industry including the private radio broadcasters to benefit from the full set of DRM features of DRM, firmly establishing DRM as the digital audio broadcast option for this large and important country. The demos of DRM in the FM band will show how DRM can enhance the performance of the many cars that an increasing number of Indians desire and will own.” […]

WorldDAB produced a Sunday-morning conference session at this year’s IBC, exploring “new opportunities and new audiences with DAB+”.The packed event was hosted by WorldDAB’s Vice-President and Project Director of Digital Radio Netherlands, Jacqueline Bierhorst who detailed how DAB+ is driving the uptake of digital radio, with it now being standard in over 90% of new cars sold in Europe.Laurence Harrison from Radioplayer Worldwide recapped highlights from last year’s Car Buyers Survey which found that buyers say broadcast radio is the most valued audio source in the car.Lindsay Cornell, Chair of the WorldDAB Technical Committee, provided expert advice on using metadata to ensure stations look their best in the car.Gereon Joachim from Xperi further emphasised the vital nature of metadata, saying that broadcaster-owned and created non-linear content has an important role to play in local market content discovery and personalisation.The second half of the WorldDAB event explored opportunities with small-scale DAB+. Hanns Wolter, of DAB Italia and the Chair of WorldDAB’s Spectrum and Network Implementation Committee, noted that small scale does not mean free. Multiplexing and distribution requires some skill, but it does allow lower entrance costs.Lukas Weiss from Digris outlined the company’s operations in Switzerland, where FM is due to be switched off in 2024. Innovation – such as incorporating display advertising – had been the key to its success, he said.“Think differently, work locally,” was the message from Nick Piggott of Bristol Digital Radio, which operates the small-scale multiplex in the west of England, and Donald McTernan from Ujima Radio, one of the community stations broadcasting on the mux. They outlined how DAB can be done cost-effectively without disrupting the existing ecosystem.Gerard Lokhoff, DAB allotment 76 and the EUregio Digitaal Foundation brought further examples of small-scale deployments in The Netherlands, that includes the ‘DAB+ 4 Brainport’ local multiplex in Eindhoven, which carries two public and seven commercial stations. […]

Content from BPRMuch has been written about how radio has reinvented itself over the years, most notably how it transformed because of the introduction of television, with radio moving from a medium people primarily consumed in the evening to a medium mainly consumed during the morning and workday.Radio’s enduring attribute has been its ability to wrap around the lives of people, listening being something that does not prevent a person from doing other things unlike reading or watching. No other form of media has moulded itself to the way people live, like radio has.For decades radio has been principally “socialised” as a source of information and entertainment at the beginning and end of the working day. This is where radio has performed best and been most securely anchored to the daily routine of adults.The last few years has however created a “decoupling” of the way radio is socialised. First, there are more audio and entertainment choices diluting usage, second, the way people work and think about work and life has changed for many. This has created a much more complex matrix of listening behaviour and motivation. It would be fair to say that during the last two years all the listening balls were thrown into the air, and we are now starting to see where they are landing.All the evidence points to a resocialisation of radio amongst many adult listeners which presents both challenges and opportunities. Some key issues include:
More people using more radio stations for shorter periods.
Many people, no longer starting their day with radio.
More people using radio on weekends.
Fewer people listening to radio every day.
More people starting their radio listening day after 9am.
The most telling finding however is that relative to all the other listening choices adult listeners have radio is increasingly distinguished by its combination of music, personality, information, and localism. Importantly, most adults prefer this listening “mix” as a backdrop to their daily lives and get annoyed when their favourite radio station does something to screw it up and they have to find satisfaction in something else. The majority of adults who move from radio to other audio are “pushed”.  The good news is that they become equally disenchanted with other audio after a while and return to radio.What defines “localism” however has changed. It is not just local news, name-dropping suburbs, and community service announcements. It is now much more about conveying a sense of shared experience with the listener.Understanding the resocialisation of radio in your market and why people behave the way they do is more than critical, it defines your future.By Wayne Clouten, BPR […]