Os consumidores querem o controlo em vez de escolhas?

«Currently, subscribers are tied to receivers, not users. Ms. Kevorkian said that limits the willingness of people to own more than a single receiver as well as the time they spend listening to the systems»

«(...) have long argued, the market is shifting towards options which facilitate "control" (like iPods) and away from options which provide more "choice," but not much "control" like radio or satellite.Anyone who thinks "choice" and "control" are the same doesn't know the difference between 500 TV channels and a DVR»; (...) «The significance of all this, of course, is that value may be rooted in the content itself, but the big bucks are in the entity that takes that content, organizes it, customizes it, and filters it. Just ask Google»

«The big opportunity of the future is in finding a way to unobtrusively and effortlessly present new music. Radio as we know it will be replaced by digital music services that tie seamlessly into music distribution systems. Access and ownership will ultimately converge. If my digital “radio station” delivers my favorite playlists on demand—anytime and anywhere—the only reason I would accept another service would be that the service is more personal. It is likely that the very term “radio” will go the way of the word “record”—into the dustbin, or on to the digerati-wordsmiths to morph into the future.»

O video pode ser uma solução para a rádio?

Este artigo do New York Times (reproduzido pelo IHT) parece indicar que sim: a partir da fusão da Sirius com a XM, e a consequente eliminação de canais repetidos, sobraria mais espaço e dinheiro para investir na emissão de imagem/Informação

Por um lado, «The first phase of the business — beaming dedicated music, sports and talk-radio stars like Howard Stern and Opie and Anthony directly to consumers — has not proved to have a clear advantage over old technology like free radio and newer ones like the iPod. So now satellite companies are looking into what other services they can offer to make them appealing to motorists». ALém disos, «that trying to create a better iPod than Apple is a losing proposition.”

Alguns esforços já foram feitos:
«Although XM and Sirius offer radio, in theory, the systems could be adapted to distribute any kind of data. And, indeed, both companies have made limited steps in that direction. Subscribers can already choose to have selected stock quotes, as well as news and sports headlines, beamed to the tiny screens on their receivers.
Both companies beam weather data to aviators and boaters through services that cost upwards of $50 a month. Later this year, XM will extend that by beaming weather information to a hand-held unit for hikers and hunters.
But Sirius has also made tentative steps toward offering video. At trade shows, Sirius has displayed prototype systems for sending video to back-seat displays like those now used by in-car DVD players. And the company recently, if vaguely, outlined plans to deliver some form of video programming aimed at children later this year.»

«The future services Mr. Parsons foresees are more modest. One, invisible to users, involves using the satellites to keep the data on in-car navigation systems constantly and automatically up to date. Another is a trick the iPod learned long ago: displaying album cover art when songs are playing. But there are limits to what even a combined satellite radio company can do. Satellite systems effectively do not allow two-way transmissions, ruling out services such as e-mail. And without enormous reinvestment, the systems are not likely to approach the transmission speeds of WiMax, a new wireless technology being developed by Nortel Networks and others that will probably start operating within the year. Those systems, like cellphone networks, will pass moving users from tower to tower and offer transmission speeds comparable to high-speed, wired connections in homes. Susan Kevorkian, an analyst with IDC, said that the satellite radio connections with automakers would give them a significant advantage over WiMax, at least in the short term.» 

fonte: Can Video Help Save the Satellite Radio Business?», IHT, 26/02/07 IAN AUSTEN

BBC experimenta Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM)

«BBC Radio and National Grid Wireless have announced a trial of a new transmission technology which will allow the two organisations to assess the practicality of digital radio services in the medium-wave bands. The trial, which will last for a year, will be centred on Plymouth. From the end of April, the BBC and National Grid Wireless will re-use a current medium-wave frequency in the Plymouth area to broadcast a trial digital service using the digital radio mondiale (DRM) standard. DRM is an emerging technology which has been designed to facilitate digital radio at frequencies below 30 MHz. The BBC, which has been involved in the engineering research and development of the standard over the last few years, already makes the BBC World Service available on short-wave using the technology to some parts of western Europe and north Africa.(...)»

Há até quem pense que isto vai substituir o DAB:

«The two big advantages of DRM is that it can be broadcast via existing AM transmitters, so no need for all that expensive investment. Second, and more important, DRM signals are stronger and can be broadcast for much longer distances than DAB. Why is this important? At present only around 85% of the UK can receive DAB, with the BBC inching its way towards its target of 90%. But even those who can get it can only listen to the stations on the two national multiplexes (soon to be three) and their regional multiplex offerings. DRM could transform that. But the adoption of DRM, as a replacement or as a rival to DAB, could be a huge spanner in the works of digital radio in the UK. DAB has only just got off the ground, and two rival systems could cause no end of consumer confusion, even with radios that can receive both. The DRM trial comes at a tricky time for DAB, with listeners such as the Guardian's Jack Schofield complaining that the signal quality is not as good as analogue FM. One critic devastatingly branded it "the new medium wave". So much for the digital revolution.»

Tudo porque há quem continue descontente com o DAB:

«This is piffle, especially in a British context. It reflects the disappointment in some quarters with the perceived failure of digital broadcasters in the UK to deliver on their promise of CD-quality sound.»

O consumo de rádio no carro (EUA)

«(...)says Automotive Analyst, Clare Hughes. “According to our consumer research, US car buyers listen to radio nearly 60 percent of their audio entertainment time. There are around 160 million consumer vehicles on the road in the US, but only 14 Million satellite radio subscribers in total.”»

fonte: «STRATEGY ANALYTICS: XM Sirius Merger Boosts Automotive Radio Adoption», 1/03/07

iRadio da Motorola; ainda não é desta

«Motorola's iRadio mobile music solution is on hold for a while. The much-hyped service that had been in beta testing for more than a year now is going back to the drawing board for some major revisions, in the hopes it can one day see the light of day.
According to Motorola's Dave Ulmer, iRadio's primary champion and spokesperson, U.S. wireless operators balked at the idea of mobile phones that cached Internet radio streams via a PC connection, and instead wanted it to be a streaming music service that used their networks.
Operators in Asia and Europe are more open to the original iRadio model, and would adopt iRadio-capable device more quickly he says, but Motorola has no music licensing agreements in those areas like it does in the U.S.»

fonte: «Motorola's iRadio Delayed, February 28, 2007, Billboardbiz, by Antony Bruno

Direitos sobre a música podem pôr em causa streaming (EUA)

«The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) has announced its decision on Internet radio royalty rates, rejecting all of the arguments made by Webcasters and instead adopting the "per play" rate proposal put forth by SoundExchange(a digital music fee collection body created by the RIAA).
RAIN has learned the rates that the Board has decided on, effective retroactively through the beginning of 2006. (...) A "performance" is defined as the streaming of one song to one listener; thus a station that has an average audience of 500 listeners racks up 500 "performances" for each song it plays. The minimum fee is $500 per channel per year.  There is no clear definition of what a 'channel' is for services that make up individualized playlists for listeners.  For noncommercial webcasters, the fee will be $500 per channel, for up to 159,140 ATH (aggregate tuning hours) per month.  They would pay the commercial rate for all transmissions above that number.

Participants are granted a 15 day period wherein they have the opportunity to ask the CRB for a re-hearing.

Within 60 days of the final determination, the decision is supposed to be published in the Federal Register, along with any technical corrections that the Board may wish to make.

Within 30 days of publication in the Federal Register, it can be appealed (but only by the participants) to the U.S. Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia.»

comentário de Kurt Hanson (RAIN): «Because a typical Internet radio station plays about 16 songs an hour, that's a royalty obligation in 2006 of about 1.28 cents per listener-hour. In 2006, a well-run Internet radio station might have been able to sell two radio spots an hour at a $3 net CPM (cost-per-thousand), which would add up to .6 cents per listener-hour. Even adding in ancillary revenues from occasional video gateway ads, banner ads on the website, and so forth, total revenues per listener-hour would only be in the 1.0 to 1.2 cents per listener-hour range. That math suggests that the royalty rate decision — for the performance alone, not even including composers' royalties! — is in the in the ballpark of 100% or more of total revenues. —KH»

fonte: RAIN, webcast royalty rate decisiob announced» 2/03/07

ACT : já há quem decrte o fim da rádio pela internet: «The royalty increases are so high that many Web-based radio stations will have to go out of business or dramatically increase advertising to cover the royalty fees. "It's the end of Internet radio as we know it," one broadcaster fumed. "The RIAA wants to put us all out of business."»

Jovens gastam mais tempo com internet, telemóveis e LAD

Mais um estudo que confirma aquilo que empiricamente se temia: o tempo não é elástico e se há mais telemóveis e leitores de audio digital, é normal que algo seja sacrificado. (só 16 por cento gastam o seu tempo «mediático» com a rádio)

«Bridge Ratings & Research recently concluded the second phase of its study on the media habits of 15-24 year olds and has confirmed initial perceptions that young people continue to spend less time listening to the radio as a result of increased use of the internet, cell phones and MP3 players. The study conducted during the second half of 2006 found that 33% of 15-24 year olds are listening to less radio as a result of their time on the Internet, while 10% are spending more time. The 33% number is up from 20% in a similar study taken in August 2005. Other findings of the study include: nearly a quarter (24%) watching less conventional TV with an almost identical number (22%) saying they are spending more time watching video on the Internet on such sites as YouTube, Yahoo! and MySpace, or streamed replays of prime time shows on TV network websites.  The study also found that young people are spending most of their total media time (23%) online, more than watching television (22%), listening to the radio (16%) and listening to their MP3 players (19%). The study used a sample of 2620 people aged 15-24 years in Dallas, Washington, DC, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Portland (OR) and St. Louis (MO).»

 

fonte: «Bridge Ratings Youth Audience Media Use Study 2007», 14/02/07

Mark Ramsey, no seu Hear2.0, acha que não. Surpreendemente, defende que «my own research has clearly shown that heavy mp3 player users tend to listen to as much radio as anyone else - but are less satisfied with what they hear on the radio». Como?

Clear Channel assina com PPM; era inevitável

«Clear Channel Radio CEO John Hogan informed employees via an internal memo that his company has signed up for PPM ratings in Philadelphia, just one day after the first PPM data for that market was released. However, he says Clear Channel remains committed to the process it launched a while back to investigate other forms of electronic measurement, including a test of the Media Audit's cell-phone based system that's slated to launch in Houston.
"I'm pleased to let you know that we've signed a three-year agreement for electronic audience measurement services in the Philadelphia market," Hogan said. "We will begin encoding for Arbitron's Portable People Meter service and we have subscribed to their audience data service."
"We are also continuing our important work with the RFP Evaluation Team (alongside advertisers, media buying agencies and other broadcasters) in evaluating all potential electronic audience-measurement options. As you may know, we are also co-funding a Houston test for The Media Audit/Ipsos with several other broadcasters."
"Our commitment to accurate, timely electronic audience measurement at a reasonable cost remains complete. We have fully supported all companies pursuing electronic audience measurement for radio because we continue to believe that radio deserves the highest-quality rating engine - matching or exceeding what's available to television and other media."»

fonte: «Clear Channel Signs Up For PPM In Philly», Radio Ink, 2/03/07
 

A rádio de conversa vai sobreviver? (optimismo)

«With the emergence of iPods, WiFi, satellite radio, and other new media, is radio in danger of losing younger listeners? 
Jason Wolfe, director de programas da WEEI, rádio de conversa e desporto de Boston, líder de audiências: I don't think we are, and I don't think radio is in general. If you look at specific formats, nothing can take the place of a local program - if it's compelling and entertaining enough. One of the great things about the growth we have achieved is that we're gaining younger people. If our core demo is men 25-54, every time one of those 54-year-olds turns 55, we pick up two who are 25. We've done exceptionally well with those younger demos, largely because they want the local programming. These new media will never supplant the great power of terrestrial radio and the personality and passion that goes with it. In that respect, as an industry, we're in good shape. There will be “competitors” so people can to go other places for news and entertainment, but at the end of the day they'll stick with radio because that's what they know and love.» (At WEEI, Jason Wolfe Is King Of The Red Sox Nation (Radio Ink, 10/17/05)

A geração iPod e os equívocos publicitários

quando se fala em publico dos 14 aos 29 anos muitas vezes a atitude da industria publicitária é esta: «"If it's young we can't sell it. We can't sell it because it's young."».

Ou seja, como lhe chama Mark Ramsey, trata-se de público "unsellable". Daí um nulo interesse em se lhes dirigir. Daí um desinteresse notório deste público na generalidade dos meios convencionais.

72 milhões de ouvintes mensais na net (EUA)

From Bridge Ratings: "The new semi-annual study from Bridge Ratings & Research indicates the number of monthly Internet radio listeners nationwide  has... increased to 72 million monthly listeners from 45 million at the end of 2005. "In 2005, weekly Internet radio listening was at 15% of the U.S. population 12 and over. This new study shows that as of January 2007 that figure increased 26% to 19% of all persons 12 and older. This translates to 57 million listening to Internet Radio on a weekly basis..."Last year's study revealed that 16% of those on-line had listened to an AM/FM simulcast on the Internet. This study, completed in January 2007 with a sample of 3000 persons 12+, showed 21% having had listened to an AM/FM simulcast in the last 30 days...
"Internet radio listening is primarily a work-hour phenomenon, with 75% of all on-line listening occurring between 5 a.m. Pacific and 5 p.m. Pacific. This is down from 81% in 2005. Increased at-home listening grew to 25% 5 a.m to 5 p.m. and 79% 7 p.m - midnight Monday through Friday.
"Thirty-five percent of Internet radio listeners were between the ages of 25 and 34. 60% were younger than 35, 33% were younger than 25, and 5% were older than 55."» (RAIN, «Study, 27 new...», 22/02/07)

Publicidade na net cresce à custa da rádio

«A Internet foi o único meio de comunicação que registou um crescimento acentuado em 2006, no que diz respeito ao investimento publicitário: acima dos 50 por cento, quando em 2004 e em 2005 o ritmo de evolução positiva já rondava os 30%. Esta é a conclusão do estudo da agência Initiative Group, divulgado no número de Janeiro da revista «moResearch». Em matéria de subidas, os anúncios em «outdoors» também cresceram, a um ritmo de 5%. Nas perdas publicitárias, a rádio foi a que mais decresceu no ano passado, com menos 6,5% de anúncios. A publicidade também desceu na imprensa (menos 2,5%) e em televisão (menos 0,5%). De acordo com a empresa Initiative Group, a derrapagem de 0,6% em matéria de investimento publicitário face a 2005, deve-se «ao andamento da economia mas também às expectativas negativas dos agentes económicos. A realização de eventos mediáticos como o Mundial de Futebol e o Rock in Rio «não foram suficientes para dinamizar os investimentos.»

fonte: Agencia Financeira, «Publicidade na Internet cresce 50% em 2006» 2007/02/19

TMN com Music Box

«TMN lança em exclusivo novo single dos Da Weasel no Music Box. Lisboa, 1 de Março de 2007 – A partir do próximo dia 5 de Março, os clientes da TMN vão poder aceder em primeira mão, através do Music Box, a um exclusivo mundial, “Dialectos da Ternura”, novo tema da banda portuguesa Da Weasel. Verdadeira loja de música, o Music Box é um serviço da TMN que permite pesquisar, seleccionar e fazer download de músicas de entre um catálogo de mais de 600 mil temas. (...) Esta estreia mundial é um exclusivo da TMN, em parceria com a EMI, podendo ser adquirida por 1,49 euros, através do portal tmn i9. Os clientes TMN que adquiram os telemóveis Sony Ericsson W300i e Nokia 5200, dois modelos orientados para a música, poderão aceder gratuitamente ao tema. Tratando-se de uma autêntica loja de música, o Music Box permite aos clientes da TMN pesquisar, seleccionar e fazer download de mais de 600 mil faixas integrais de música, através do telemóvel, no portal tmn i9, por um preço único de 1,49 euros. O serviço é compatível com uma gama alargada de modelos especialmente vocacionados para funcionalidades relacionadas com a música, dos quais se destacam, para além dos já referidos acima, o Samsung X830 e o Nokia N70 Music Edition, este último a disponibilizar brevemente.   A promover o Music Box da TMN estará no ar, também a partir de 5 de Março, uma campanha multimeios, abrangendo imprensa, rádio e televisão. Nos pontos de venda TMN, os clientes podem ainda encontrar cartazes, folhetos e postais promocionais do mais recente tema dos Da Weasel.» (informação oficial da TMN, 01/03/07)   Esta aposta reforça a liderança da maior empresa de telecomunicações móveis do país, também operador multimedia focalizado nas expectativas e tendências de utilização do telemóvel dos seus clientes. 

É cada vez maior a lista de marcas de automóveis com ligação ao iPod

«Take your music on the road with seamless integration between your car and your iPod. A host of top automakers offer elegant solutions for both new cars and prior-year models. Or choose after-market iPod integration options from leading car stereo accessory manufacturers and outfit any car to play well with iPod.»

Um agregador de programas e rádios on line

Mark Ramsey chama a atenção para o site RadioTime «that aggregates content from your station's stream and tons of others.Then, they showcase that content in a form that will be more attractive to a broad base of potential listeners. For example, as I write this I can choose from 237 stations if I want to tune in Bill O'Reilly's "Radio Factor." What? The show's not in right now in your town? Chances are it's on somewhere, and RadioTime can help you find it.»

É mais importante ter os conteúdos ou gerir os conteúdos?

Um velho problema: rádio tem menos publicidade do que audiência

«During the Q&A portion of the Cox earnings call on Tuesday, Cox Radio President/CEO Bob Neil said, “We continually fight to try and make advertisers understand what the value of our medium is. It's not unlike the fight that our media brothers and sisters go through all the time.
“We feel like, given the percentage of time we get from consumers we don't get our fair share on the advertising side. We think, given the amount of time people spend with us and our advertising share, we bring a good value to the table for local advertisers and we want to make sure that they realize that.”
«Neil continued, pointing out that “when 93% of the people are listening to radio on a weekly basis that’s a pretty powerful thing.
“Is fragmentation occurring? Sure it is. But it’s always occurred for radio. You (reporter covering the call) write about the iPod. Ten years ago your predecessor was writing about CDs and 20 years before that his predecessor was writing about 8-Tracks. It’s always something.
“The point is, this is a good business. It has a lot of people listening to it. It’s a viable advertising business. So rather than spending all your time finding out what’s wrong with it, it would be great if somebody would spend a little bit of time at least recognizing the positives that are there.
“The facts speak pretty well for our media, and if you’re in some of the other media it’s a lot worse right now, so I’ll take radio, thanks.”»

fonte: «Cox's Neil: I'll Take Radio», radio Ink, 1/03/07 

Há quem acredite que a história se repete

«“Is fragmentation occurring? Sure it is. But it’s always occurred for radio. You (reporter covering the call) write about the iPod. Ten years ago your predecessor was writing about CDs and 20 years before that his predecessor was writing about 8-Tracks. It’s always something.», Cox Radio President/CEO Bob Neil in «Cox's Neil: I'll Take Radio», radio Ink, 1/03/07

Audiências de rádio via satélite (EUA) valem 3,4%

«The sum of all listening to satellite channels mentioned by the half million diarykeepers in the Arbitron Fall 2006 survey totaled 3.4 percent of credited quarter-hours.
The Fall 2006 survey was the first in which new instructions were provided in the diary, asking respondents to indicate their listening to satellite and Internet radio in addition to AM/FM radio. Respondents mentioned 297 separate satellite radio channels during the Fall 2006 survey.
The analysis also showed that satellite listeners are heavy listeners to radio in general, including AM/FM radio. Satellite listeners spent an average of 33 hours a week with radio compared with the typical listener, who listened approximately 19 hours a week to radio. Also, people who listened to satellite spent more time with AM/FM radio (14 hours) than they did with satellite radio (10 hours 45 minutes) or Internet (8 hours 15 minutes). »

fonte: «Arbitron: Satellite Radio Accounts For 3.4% Of All Radio Listening», radio Ink, 01/03/07

 Fred Jacobs comenta: «As you have no doubt read by now, satellite radio's overall share falls in at a 3.4 level.  Divide that among all the different satellite channels mentioned, and their average "station" cruises in at .009 share.  The most-listened to sat channel (wonder which one that might be?) roared in at a .2. Not exactly like the dream advertising platform.  And it certainly reinforces the notion that a merger may be the only way to save both companies from overinvesting in programming, at the expense of sales (and I'm a programming guy).  As budgets become tighter - especially among younger consumers - and iPod connectivity (and eventually, the Internet) becomes ubiquitous in vehicles, Wall Street will continue to question the model.  As we continually hear from our focus groups and our tech polls, listeners continue to push back at the notion of paying for radio.»

estratégias para as páginas web das rádios

« (...) For many listeners, their favorite radio station Web site is like home—literally, their home page... "...Rocco Macri, president and founder of Promosuite, a software and interactive services provider for radio... says, 'your Web site is an opportunity to build a relationship with listeners. The first thing you need to do is to give them an incentive to give you personal information. The best way to accomplish this is to offer many different entry points. And your best opportunity to get listeners to give you information is the first time they sign up.”

"These entry points include loyal listener clubs, Web site contesting, text messaging alerts, Web site surveys and music testing...

"One of the most common uses of a database is e-mail marketing. Stations also use databases to do online music testing and perceptual studies. Previously, direct marketing was conducted through the mail and was a costly option. With an e-mail database, the cost is much more efficient, if there is cost at all. And you can reach listeners more consistently..."More recently, with Web sites becoming a greater generator of revenue for companies, the database can also help sales teams sell Web site advertising."»

fonte: Radio&Records, via RAIN, «Programming station web sites keeps AM/FM listeners on line», 27/02/07

Tendências (mais controlo, menos escolha)

«Arbitron did not report mp3 player usage among these folks (indeed, they don't even measure it), and my own research has clearly shown that heavy mp3 player users tend to listen to as much radio as anyone else - but are less satisfied with what they hear on the radio. The implications of all this are profound: If satellite tracks with radio as new audio entertainment and information options proliferate, then they will be on the wrong side of the trend curve as technology progresses. Under that scenario, it would mean that, as I have long argued, the market is shifting towards options which facilitate "control" (like iPods) and away from options which provide more "choice," but not much "control" like radio or satellite. Anyone who thinks "choice" and "control" are the same doesn't know the difference between 500 TV channels and a DVR.» Mark Ramsey, «What Arbitron's new Satellite Radio stats might really mean», 27/02/07