Technology brings ‘disruptive change’ for broadcast businesses: Clive Dickens at Summit

In Britain, 65% of listening to the Absolute Radio network takes place through its digital platforms, Clive Dickens told this week’s Australian Broadcasting Summit. Dickens’ network takes a multi-platform approach to it’s audience, making sure it’s programming is on every receiver device as it is developed, in an effort to respond to the “disruptive change” brought by new technology.

 

In the UK, broadcasters do not distinguish between the digital terrestrial broadcast platform and other digital platforms such as phones, televisions or computers, describing them all as digital radio, in a smart marketing move which fits in with Dickens’ philosophy that the main game is about reaching consumers with products that are relevant to them, rather than discussing technology.

 

 

Another innovation by British broadcasters is the development of a universal online radio player to counter the effects of third party radio aggregator sites. Commercial and BBC stations have joined together to put all their stations on the one ‘skin’ so that consumers do not have to go to multiple websites and launch separate media players if they want to change stations. “Our approach was to make it like the car radio, where all stations are on the dial and all you have to do is choose one,” Dickens told the radio stream at the conference it is a simple but powerful proposition and audiences “get it” right away and appreciate the ease  the player offers them.

 

People will always need audio said Dickens, but broadcasters can certainly expect more “disruptive change” to their business models as media consumption technology continues to develop. He says Apple’s impending launch of a music streaming service will be another of those “disruptive technologies” which broadcasters will have to deal with to survive. 

 

In the UK, traditional commercial radio audience share has continued to decline in the face of a strong BBC and new technology, but Dickens sees new growth potential via new platforms. Articulating a commonly held commercial radio viewpoint in Britain, Dickens said the BBC has a 55% share of all radio listening “funded by a very unfair tax,” which means the British commercial radio industry has to “innovate to survive.”

 

The Absolute Radio team “don’t care about radio advertising in the old sense… online is their target too because radio can be online… If our consumers a experiencing our brand they are in our business model,” said Dickens. The biggest online brands in the UK are media companies, confirming Dickens’ view that “we must embrace any technology, wherever our consumers are.”

 

Absolute Radio also thinks differently about targeting it’s audience. Rather than using simple demographics, the station describes its listeners by a psychographic which it calls “reluctant adults.”

 

Tracking changing audience habits is essential for stations to stay on top of the game according to Dickens, who says Facebook is a huge phenomenon, with 20% of all UK internet usage time being sent on the social networking site. “We must be where the audience is,” he said, encouraging stations to build presence on such sites.

 

While his company tracks clicks, downloads and other online interactions, Dickens says a more effective way to measure online is to track “active engaged users” by tracking play and replay statistics and interactions such as click-throughs.

 

In another conference session, BBC Worldwide CEO John Smith echoed Dickens’ views, swaying the BBC’s philosophy is to be “promiscuous” about where it delivers it’s content, also adopting a multi-platform approach. Smith also made the point that search and social networking are the two most functions people use most on the internet. The BBC uses Facebook extensively for driving fans to BBC weskits for shows such as Top Gear.