ASIA

India’s Big FM network has ventured into the social commerce space with their latest offering – BIG Living, a platform for those who care for themselves and the environment and want to live a sustainable life.It connects the consumers to an array of like-minded brands, artisans and designers who share a similar philosophy of sustainable living. Each product is specially selected by the network’s presenters.‘Health & Wellness’ section will have a specially selected range of products for a sound and soothing mind and body. The ‘Giving Back’ section will help you bring smiles and joy to someone’s life. ‘Locally Made’ category is to encourage all local businesses and boost their products through the platform. Adding more, its ‘Workshop’ category will have a selection of sessions for personal growth and upskilling. It will also showcase the best of talents from the heartland and their magnificent creation through their ‘Artisans and Designers’ section.

Abraham Thomas, Chief Executive Officer, Reliance Broadcast Network Limited, said: “With our strong digital footprint expanding rapidly, it is a natural progression to foray into social commerce to build consideration and brand salience thereby venturing into an alternative revenue stream. Sustainable living is the future and we at BIG FM are doing our part to be conscious and protective of the environment we live in. Today’s generation is looking up to their credible set of influencers while making their purchasing decisions and we are proud to present a platform to our audience who they can trust for their authentic purchases.”Sunil Kumaran, Country Head, Product, Marketing and THWINK BIG, Big FM, said: “To bring about a positive change, it is the small everyday choices one makes that matters. This very thought is at the core of our offering with BIG Living. We have built a one-stop shop that offers sustainable products and modern-day services to the users. Through this platform, we are offering organic products, supporting local businesses and artisans, and offering creative workshops that add value to the user’s life. BIG Living leverages our strengths in the area of digitalization and state of the art production capabilities to bring a powerful platform helping brands and consumers to connect.” […]

Adthos Creative Studio launched this year, bringing with it a world first: the ability to create high-quality audio advertising on the go using innovative text to speech and synthetic voice technology.Using Creative Studio, broadcasters and advertisers are not only able to create, produce and playout their ads in record time, they also have access to a suite of pre-produced adverts covering various kinds of businesses or services which can be quickly and easily customized to their needs.And right now, Adthos Creative Studio has created a readymade campaign for radio stations focused on encouraging vaccine uptake which can be downloaded and used for free, with promos covering 6,500 cities in 40 countries, and in 70 languages and dialects. For the United States it includes the top 1,000 largest cities.With more than 13,000 creatives, and supported on its release by stations with a total of more than 250 million weekly listeners, it’s the largest audio ad campaign in history.The company says: “In a time where fake news and misinformation is rife, we believe that radio – which remains one of the most trusted forms of media – has an important role to play in contributing positively to the world. And in the midst of an evolving public health crisis, the ability to create powerful targeted messaging quickly and easily to be rolled out in multiple locations offers big advantages. We also see this as a positive use for AI technology that benefits humanity”Visit the Adthos Responsible AI for Humanity webpage to experience it for yourself. […]

The GfK Radio Audience Measurement Survey (RAM) Wave 2, 2021 revealed a new high for Malaysian radio as it reached a high of almost 96% of individuals in Peninsular Malaysia, equivalent to 21.1 million weekly radio listeners, reflecting an increase of 469,000.From this, Astro Radio grew its market share to 15.6 million weekly listeners or 74% of 21.1 million available radio listeners, cementing its position as the radio operator with the highest number of listeners locally.Astro Radio’s increased reach in radio listenership was made possible by 312.6 million monthly average digital and video streams, 24.1 million social media followers, and 103 million monthly average Facebook page reach.Astro Radio brands continued to rank No. 1 across all languages: ERA, the No. 1 Malay brand; HITZ, the No. 1 English brand; MY, the No. 1 Chinese brand; and RAAGA, the No. 1 Tamil brand.
ERA continued to achieve Malaysia’s highest weekly reach amongst young Malay listeners between the ages of 10 to 29, with 2.9 million listeners.
SINAR remained Malaysia’s second most-listened-to brand with a weekly listenership of 4.6 million.
GEGAR, Malaysia’s No. 1 radio brand in the East Coast reached 2.3 million weekly listeners.
With an increase to 2.6 million weekly listeners, HITZ also achieved the highest ‘Exclusive Audience’ for English brands at 328,000 listeners, the Highest Breakfast for English brands with 1.2 million listeners and the Highest Drive for English brands with 1.3 million listeners.
MIX recorded an increase to 1.2 million weekly listeners, with the Breakfast and Drive segment increasing to 519,000 listeners and 584,000 listeners respectively, which marks increases of almost 115,000 (Breakfast) and 150,000 (Drive).
LITE saw an increase in its weekly listeners to 937,000 with its Drive segment now reaching 432,000 listeners and an increase in Exclusive Audience to 108,000 listeners.
Weekly listenership on MY increased by 300,000 growing to 2.5 million, while the Breakfast and Drive segments achieved the highest number of listeners for Chinese brands with 1.6million for each of the segments.
RAAGA increased its weekly listeners to 1.5 million. This increase was also reflected in the Breakfast segment with a high of 1 million listeners, and an increase of more than 120,000 in the Drive segment to 936,000 listeners. RAAGA also recorded an increase in Exclusive Audience by 43,000 to 622,000.
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. 20 commercial radio brands subscribed to this wave and Astro Radio secured 6 positions in the Top 10 brands ranking.Data source: GfK Radio Audience Measurement (RAM), Wave 2 2021 | Facebook Page Reach: Facebook Insights (July – Sept 2021) | Digital Streams: Radioactive (July – Sept 2021) | Website Unique Visitors/Page Views: Google Analytics (July – Sept 2021) | Video Views: Facebook Creator Studio, CrowdTangle, YouTube (July – Sept 2021) | Total Social Media Followers: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube (July – Sept 2021) […]

The 2022 New York Festivals® Radio Awards competition is now open for entries.New York Festivals Radio Awards honors storytellers from around the globe. Since 1957 NYF has celebrated excellence and innovation across all genres and platforms, keeping pace with industry-wide developments and global trends.“When we added nine categories for social justice content last year, radio producers and the global audio storytelling community responded with thought-provoking work,” said Rose Anderson, VP/Executive Director, New York Festivals Radio Awards. “This year, we are thrilled to announce the debut of our new trophy, the iconic NYF Tower in hand-polished Gold, Silver, and Bronze.” 2021 Social Justice medal winners included “Birds Eye View” (StoryProjects), “Racism Within” (SBS Australia), “Say Their Name” (DCP Entertainment), and “Bioneers Radio Series” (Bioneers). To view the complete roster of 2022 Radio Awards categories, visit HERE.2021 NYF Radio Grand Awards were “I’m Not A Monster” from BBC Panorama & FRONTLINE (BBC), “The Hobbit”, By J.R.R. Tolkien, Read by Andy Serkis (HarperCollins Publishers) and “Weightless” (DMC Studio Argentina). To view all the 2021 Radio Awards winners, visit HERE.Molly Solomon, Executive Producer & President of NBC Olympics Production and Executive Producer for the Golf Channel received the 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award.The BBC earned the Broadcaster of the Year Award and TBI Media UK earned the title of Production Company of the Year.Although the 2021 in-person NAB Show was cancelled due to pandemic quarantine restrictions, NYF pivoted with a 90-minute virtual ceremony Storytellers Gala featuring highlights and acceptances from 100 winning teams of men and women coming from their homes in 40+ countries.The 2022 Storytellers Gala will take place at the annual NAB Show in Las Vegas on April 26, 2022. This is the 12th year of NYF’s strategic partnership with NAB Show. All NYF Radio Award winners have access to the multi-day event which is the world’s largest global gathering for the media and entertainment industry.For the second year in a row, New York Festivals welcomes JusticeAid, an organization that promotes justice through the arts and public engagement, as a partner.The NYF Radio Awards receives entries from radio stations, networks, and independent producers from over 30 countries around the globe. The mission of the competition is to honor the achievements of the men and women who make up the global audio storytelling community. To view the 2021 winner’s Gallery, visit: HERE.New York Festivals invites award-winning industry leaders from around the world to become members of their world-class Radio Awards Grand Jury. The 2022 Grand jury will be set in the coming months. Those jurors will include some of the most world’s recognizable voices and captivating content producers in the radio industry. Entries are judged on production values, organization, presentation of information, creativity, and use of the medium.All Entries in the 2022 competition will be judged online by NYF’s Radio Awards Grand Jury of 200+ producers, directors, writers, and other creative media professionals from around the globe. Award-winning entries will be showcased on the Radio Awards winners gallery. To view the 2021 winner’s gallery, visit HERE.The deadline to enter the 2022 Radio Awards competition is February 9, 2022. To enter please visit: HERE, for additional information visit: Rules and Regulations. […]

The Indian automotive market has achieved the fastest digital radio adoption, with 28% of new cars on the road currently being equipped with a DRM digital radio receiver.This achievement was recorded while most of the public broadcaster AIR’s transmissions are in simulcast mode (DRM and a legacy analogue signal), with the pure DRM transmissions slowly gaining ground. The figure of 28% within this short time frame after launching digital radio services is unparalleled in the world. The market share is similar with what has been achieved in the US for the domestic digital radio standard, but in a time span of over 20 years, and with a proportionally much higher investments by commercial companies.Today there are more than 4.2 million cars on the road in India equipped with DRM receivers as a line-fit feature and at no extra cost to consumers. The domestic automotive eco-system around DRM includes chipset manufacturers such as NXP, tier-1 receiver manufacturers, and car brands including Maruti-Suzuki, Hyundai, Toyota, MG Motors, Mercedes Benz, and others.Major worldwide operating companies (with Indian and global presence) are part of the Indian car industry, including NXP, RF2digital, Harman (Samsung), Visteon, LG Electronics, Mobis, Hyundai, Fraunhofer IIS, StarWaves, Gospell, Inntot, Cambridge Consultants/CML Microcircuits, Ittiam, and organisations like the not-for-profit international DRM Consortium. These companies have invested millions of dollars in developing and building DRM related technology and know-how in and for India as well the global automotive industry.According to the DRM India Automotive Group, there is a strong request by the whole Indian automotive industry for innovative content available via DRM accompanied by clear communication by the broadcasters towards the public. These measures along with a firm decision on adopting DRM also for the local FM services will give the market stability and certainty, resulting in a continued strong growth of DRM receiver availability as a default feature in Indian cars. Practically every automotive company and manufacturer of DRM receivers today has a solution to support DRM in all frequency bands including digital FM, as most of the serious investment in R&D and testing has already been done, and there is only a single IP royalty for DRM receivers irrespective of the supported bands.According to the Chairman of the DRM Consortium, Ruxandra Obreja: “A decision to extend DRM to the FM band makes absolute sense. The DRM standard allows for the FM digitisation with minimal investment. It is compatible with the existing Common Transmitter Indian infrastructure and does not affect the ongoing analogue FM services during the transition period. The Indian automotive industry has clearly expressed their request for having the single DRM standard extended to all broadcast bands, as this can be done with minimum development, testing and IP cost, without any hardware modifications, while providing a consistent digital radio experience to listeners. The industry has proven that existing DRM car radio sets are ready to support DRM in all bands, resulting in an even quicker adoption of receivers for DRM services in the FM Band.Going forward, the DRM Consortium and the DRM India Automotive Group encourage the Indian government to mandate future cars to be equipped with DRM digital radio functionality including support for EWF – Emergency Warning Functionality as a default feature, in-line with what has been legislated in other parts of the world. Based on the innovative digital radio services provided by DRM, this will help AIR and the private Indian broadcasters to raise the awareness of how digital radio can benefit radio listeners and encourage the industry to produce affordable DRM standalone receivers and cell phones.” […]

Content from BPRAs radio programmers, we know that listeners want to be entertained and informed by their favourite radio station. However, they also want company, community and a sense of familiarity & belonging. Social media platforms are a great way to engage with the audience and promote your station.But like every marketing tool, the use of social media must be carefully planned and executed.Andrew Davis, author of Brandscaping, has been credited with the creation of the 4-1-1 rule for publishing content on social media.In summary, for every SIX pieces of content published through social media platforms:4 pieces of content aimed at your target audience should be from other sources… that is, you’re sharing other people’s content.1 piece is original.1 piece should be promotional.The essence of the 4-1-1 rule is that it allows a station to engage in the conversation, build awareness and keep in touch with its listeners without coming across as being too self- promotional …. too “look at me”.Example:4 Pieces of Influencer Content:A radio station’s list of influencers i.e. people/sites generating content of interest to the station’s target audience may include:
Journalists/columnists/entertainment & gossip writers
TV stations
Sports teams
Bloggers
Bands/musicians
Entertainment venues
Comedians
 1 Piece of Original Content:These are your blogs, videos, photos, podcasts, etc. Here’s an example of original content from KIIS 106.5, Sydney that had exceptional engagement…. from listeners, non-listeners, TV stations & newspapers and even from the Australian Prime Minister and State Health Minister (who appears at the conclusion of the video).[embedded content]1 Piece of Content that Converts:This is effectively a “call to action”. It encourages listeners to do something which aligns with the goals of your digital strategy……remember, EVERY strategy must have goals.Those goals may include:
Entering a contest/promotion (and therefore, signing up to join the station database)
Telling your listeners, or at least those using one of the social media platforms, an additional “clue” that could help them win a contest
Getting them to purchase tickets to a station promoted event
Streaming the station
Setting appointment listening (e.g. promote an interview with a major celebrity)
Downloading the station app
  Conclusion
Every station needs a Marketing Strategy. Social media is just one component of the overall marketing strategy.
Create blogs, videos, photos and podcasts; share this content online across ALL social media platforms. Remember, your listeners may use a variety of platforms but perhaps not all of them.
Ensure the content is ENGAGING. Without ENGAGING content, social media as a marketing tool for any company is really a waste of time.
Use the analytical tools to work out what type of content resonates with your audience.
Measure the results of your digital marketing.
Follow the 4-1-1 rule.
By David Kidd, BPR […]