ASIA

Radiodays Europe (RDE) 2021, which had been postponed due to the pandemic will now take place in Lisbon from October 9 to 11, 2021.
RDE 2021 will be a live in-person event at Lisbon Congress Center, as originally announced for March 2020, but it will also be available virtually, on-line.
If you registered for the event in 2020 your ticket is still valid for the event in 2021. It is your choice whether to travel and attend in person or to attend the event virtually.
Though local safety measures are still in place, Portugal is step by step opening up from pandemic restrictions and is now welcoming non-essential travellers from the EU, the Schengen area (Norway, Switzerland etc), UK, USA and some other countries. With the vaccine roll-out well on its way across Europe the general pandemic situation is expected to improve substantially over the coming months.
Travelling will also be made easier with the introduction of the electronic EU Covid-19 Vaccine Passport this summer, which will show if you are fully vaccinated or if you have a recent negative test, if that should be required at the time of your travel.
Radiodays Europe will give you guidance and update you on the situation in Portugal in general, and travel in particular, over the coming months leading up to the event on 9-11 October.
Registration opens shortly. 

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A record-breaking number of delegates attended WorldDAB Automotive conference on June 23, making this event truly the hub for all conversations on digital radio in the car.
Over 500 delegates from over 70 countries registered to attend this live event, unique in  bringing together the broadcast and automotive sectors to collaborate on securing the future of digital radio in the car.
In an opening keynote, Martin Koch, VW Group’s Head of Entertainment & Car Functions affirmed that radio in the car is important not just for listeners and broadcasters, but also to car manufacturers, with their customers’ demand for broadcast radio in the car is as high as ever, and radio still taking the major share of ear in the car. However, he warned that with larger screens now a reality on the car dash, and with more and more entertainment options fighting for the attention of drivers and passengers, radio needs to provide more than audio to attract and retain audiences. 
A recurring theme at the conference was the need for broadcasters to both collaborate and compete with the tech platforms Apple Car Play or Android Automotive. Strategy Analytics’ Roger Lanctot reported that the car has evolved to become a platform, with Google being both a partner and a competitor – enabling and supporting content, but with others crowding in. 
Radio industry leaders Joan Warner from CRA Australia, Antonio Arcidiacono from EBU and Caroline Beasley from the US were unanimous in their message: broadcasters need to work together through their industry bodies to optimise the in-car radio experience to ensure that radio remains prominent and easily discoverable in the car.
WorldDAB President, Patrick Hannon outlined three key areas for the work of WorldDAB: ensuring that DAB+ is a basic feature in all cars, already in 80% of new cars as as end 2020;  creating a good in-car experience through the work of the WorldDAB UX Guidelines and metadata campaign; and improving DAB+’s place in platforms such as Android Automotive which was very much a key theme of the conference. 
Android Automotive’s Guru Nagarajan confirmed that Google is aware of the need for collaboration with radio broadcasters to create the right ecosystem for broadcast radio within Android Automotive, and he too echoed the need for broadcasters to speak with one voice to ensure the best radio services for all users and listeners. 
Other key themes from the conference:  

Aleksandra Gojkovic presented new research by the BBC revealing the complex ecosystem of needs and mediating factors driving the audio choices in-car listeners make such as availability and discoverability, with audio choices tending to be fast, instinctive, and gravitating towards the path of least resistance. 
The importance of WorldDAB’s UX (user experience) Guidelines was emphasised by Radioplayer’s Laurence Harrison and Caroline Graze. They told how a “perfect” hybrid radio (FM, DAB+, IP) needs to meet the WorldDAB UX guidelines, leading to a simple, user-centric approach to user interface design that hides the technical sophistication of the radio.
Nick Piggott, Project Director of RadioDNS presented the WorldDAB/RadioDNS’ Features Research first look, he revealed the high level of engagement all auto brands questioned have for DAB digital radio and radio in general, with most car receivers showing visual information provided by radio stations.
On personalisation and localisation, broadcasters were encouraged to provide the right experience, not just to enable an excellent listener experience for the passenger, but also to create monetisation business models.  Francis Goffin from RTBF spoke about how broadcasters in Belgium are doing this today while Christopher Ambrozic from TiVo gave an overview of how a system developed over many years for TV is being adapted to radio.

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The DRM Consortium has just developed a comprehensive and user-friendly calculator tool to determine how much energy can be saved by switching transmitters from analogue to digital DRM operation.

The DRM Energy Efficiency Calculator (https://energyefficiency.drm.org) has been created using typical performance data from transmitter manufacturers. It then calculates total expected energy usage for up to ten transmitters by considering operational mode, time on-air, and broadcasting technique assessing the energy consumption and electricity costs, based upon local market information. By comparing data sets for both analogue and DRM digital operations, it can estimate the potential (and often huge) savings broadcasters might expect from switching over to DRM.
This not only benefits broadcasters by reducing their electricity bills by double-digit percentages but proves specifically how DRM supports broadcasters’ efforts to become more sustainable though green technology significantly reducing requirements for energy produced in large parts of the world from fossil fuels.
According to Simon Keens, Sales and Business Development Manager, Ampegon Power Electronics AG (key member of the DRM Consortium) who has devised the calculator: “This new energy efficiency tool can be easily programmed into an Excel spreadsheet for ease of use and universal distribution in pdf reports summarizing the findings in simple text and graphs. This will help the engineers and all those interested to present concretely one of the great advantages of DRM, i.e., delivering substantial and sustained energy savings over many years.” 
Ruxandra Obreja, DRM Consortium Chairman, invites all those interested to a “zoom launch” of the new energy efficiency tool “Savings at Your Fingertips” on June 30th at 1000 UTC for introducing the simple device that will deliver results in minutes. “Unlike other complex studies on energy saving, this is something concrete that any broadcaster or anyone interested can create and use applying up to the minute data like transmitter power, energy costs etc. So, join us for this short takeaway session which will demonstrate how you can get concrete data and reports on energy consumption and savings through DRM use. Interested parties will be able to use it independently and thus assess and convince themselves and others of the energy saving benefit of DRM.” 
To register and join this webinar, please click here.

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In the second half of 2020, over 80% of new cars in key European markets came with DAB+ radio as standard – a dramatic increase on the same period in 2019. This step-change reflects the impact of the European Electronic Communications Code (EECC), which, from December 2020, requires all new car radios in the EU to be capable of receiving digital terrestrial radio.

These figures were revealed in WorldDAB’s latest market report, published today to coincide with the organisation’s annual Automotive conference.
Patrick Hannon, President of WorldDAB, said: “These results demonstrate that DAB+ is firmly established as the core future platform for radio in Europe. The recent progress in Germany, France, Italy and Benelux has been particularly impressive – and reflects the high levels of co-operation between players across the radio ecosystem. Looking forward, our goal is to ensure that the key benefits of broadcast radio – being free-to-air, independent of gatekeepers and reliable in emergencies – remain at the heart of listeners’ automotive audio experience.”
The WorldDAB report also highlighted that, by the end of Q4 2020, nearly 100 million consumer and automotive DAB/DAB+ receivers had been sold in Europe and Asia Pacific – up from 92 million 6 months year earlier.
Key findings of the reportDAB+ is now in over 80% of new cars in key European markets, driven by the impact of the European Electronic Communications Code which came into force end 2020, as well as the expansion of DAB+ in key markets such as Germany, France and Switzerland where preparations are ongoing to switch off FM in 2022-2023.
The EECC requires all new car radios in the EU to be capable of receiving digital terrestrial radio. UK, Switzerland and Norway have 97-100% DAB+ as standard, and in Italy, The Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany over 80% of new cars sold have DAB+ fitted as standard. In Australia, 77% of new cars sold now have DAB+ fitted as standard (up from 60% in 2018).
The growth in receiver sales has been driven also by market forces: France will launch national DAB+ services in October 2021[1], Germany launched a second national DAB+ multiplex for commercial radio in October 2020, and in the UK has seen DAB listening overtake FM for the first time.
Several EU countries – including Germany, France, United Kingdom and Italy – have already introduced regulations to implement the EECC directive into national legislation, while other countries – including The Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Greece, Czech Republic, Poland, Spain, Slovakia and Malta – have initiated procedures to implement the EECC into national legislation.
Other highlights from the WorldDAB report include:

In France, 82% of new cars were sold with DAB+ as standard in H2 2020 compared to 38% in H2 2019
In Germany, 80% of new cars were sold with DAB+ as standard in H2 2020 compared to 22% in H2 2019
In Switzerland, 73% of all radio listening is via digital platforms, and 41% of all listening is on DAB+. Switzerland has confirmed FM will be switched off by January 2023
Nearly 47 million receivers have been shipped in the UK, with 67% of households having at least one DAB receiver
In Italy, sales of consumer DAB+ receivers more than doubled in 2020 (up 126%) following the introduction of rules requiring all receivers to have DAB+ from 1st January 2020

The infographic details the rollout status in 24 emerging markets including information on trials and population coverage – not only in Europe but also in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The infographic also gives a comprehensive overview of DAB receiver sales, road and population coverage, household penetration and the number of national stations on DAB/DAB+ compared to FM. The report covers Australia, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland and the UK.
[1] In France, DAB+ is already on air in ten major cities / regions

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