5.4 Internet

Emissão via internet aumenta a persistência da mensagem radiofónica

«The results show that listening to news online improves both recall and comprehension of events. Participants were able to retrieve more details and understand developments of actions when they had more control over the pace of information. (...) This physical attachment could translate into more cognitive activity, especially if a user can control the pace of information flow. In return, traditional radio listening is less engaging. This might explain why respondents in the condition of regular radio listening had a poor cognitive performance in the experiment. Nonlinear listening to news had an important role in elaboration on news content» (MESBAH, Hesham M. The Impact of Linear Versus Nonlinear Listening to Radio News on Recall and Comprehension, Journal of Radio Studies 13(2), 2006, 196-197)

Tendências actuais nas páginas web

«(...) The days when radio station sites could simply function as blinking billboards, showcasing station events and DJ bios are long gone.  Today, sites need to be interactive, focus on the music that listeners love, provide video, and cater to the needs of listeners [Fred Jacobs dá o exemplo de uma rádio dos EUA, a 107.7 The Bone, que tem uma página chamada «Ask th PD», ou seja, perguntem ao director de programas; este responde on line às perguntas dos ouvintes].»

fonte: Fred Jacobs, «MyCandidate», 30/03/07, Jacobs Media

Talvez a rádio mais evoluída (adaptada aos novos tempos)

É público que BBC, NPR e outras rádios de serviço público são as menos receosas relativamente ao podcasting e às novas mudanças que a rádio está a sofrer.

De acordo com a edição de 2007 do State of the News Media, a rádio do Washington Post, WTOP, estará ainda mais à frente:

«Washington-based WTOP represents an entirely different look at radio online, one which is simultaneously local and national in scope. The homepage features an obvious lead story; an invitation to visitors to listen to WTOP radio news; weather and traffic information for the day; and a prominently featured local news section. Advertisements also have a heavy presence. WTOP.com ranks in the top tier for offering customizable options. Users can subscribe to both RSS feeds and podcasts, and its RSS feeds are relatively varied (totaling 12 different feeds, all of which are different categories of news). WTOP also goes further than NPR in providing on-demand listening options: visitors can sign up for content delivery (headlines, weather, traffic and breaking news) to their mobile phones. WTOP.com is still largely about narrative text (it makes up close to three-quarters of the content with still photos the second-most common form). Still, it did make some effort at multimedia forms (falling in the mid-level range of all sites studied) with some presence of video stories, slideshows, interactive graphics and yes, live streaming audio. Listening makes up only a small though prominent part of the Web site’s homepage with a section called “ Audio Center” that is devoted to live streaming of the WTOP radio station content.The site puts less emphasis on its own original branded content, relying mostly on the A.P. The heavy use on wires reflects the larger reality of radio today — even in Washington, D.C., national and international news comes heavily from sources other than the station itself. And even for local stories, only some had WTOP staff bylines; most came from the A.P., along with a few contributions from the Washington Post. Economically, WTOP seems to emphasize revenue streams from its Web site, as opposed to simply leaning on its radio station for cash-flow. It averaged close to 20 different ads on its home page, only one of which was self-promotional. Ad eyeballs, it seems, are the way users pay for use of the site. All the content is free and there no registration is necessary»

Os canais de streaming são a maior ameaça à rádio desde a TV?

«Web radio may be the biggest threat to radio since the advent of TV», diz-se neste artigo do Globe and Mail. «Without facing regulatory restrictions or a need to fight for space on a fixed radio dial, the Internet may just be the biggest threat to the radio industry since the advent of television -- and the established players, faced with a challenge to their business model, have stood up and taken notice.  Just as telling as Mr. Woost's popularity at the conference is the fact that Internet radio has new enemies -- in particular the U.S. recording industry, which this month proposed aggressive royalties many feel could be the death knell for the industry. For now, there's no question Web radio is taking off. With the proliferation of WiFi as a catalyst, companies have been quietly pumping millions of dollars into developing new technologies. Some of the industry's key players are upstarts, such as last.fm and Oakland-based Pandora. The bigger sites are better-known Web portals, with Yahoo Launchcast and AOL Music topping the global list. Even they started small, but Yahoo Launchcast now draws enough listeners to equal the largest FM stations combined in a major U.S. city like New York.(...)»

fonte: «Everyone's on the same wavelength now», GRANT ROBERTSON, 10/03/07, Globe and Mail Update

 

As previsões sobre a Internet

«Twenty years later, the Internet became the communications trend du jour, and even wilder predictions were made about its future. We know now that every optimistic prognostication made during the early nineties about the Internet, no matter how outlandish, underestimated what actually happened. No one back then dared to claim that within a decade a billion people would be connected, that many times more e-mails than letter would be sent, that the biggest stores in the world would have no walls (...)» (Levy, 2006: 121)

 

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)

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?

O que pode ter uma página na net

«First, radio must not only be streaming on its sites, but actually providing a quality stream that is clear, clean, doesn't buffer, and is reliable. The "stuff" that covers commercial clusters must be well-produced - not endless promos, boring PSA, or sound effects.

Second, imagine what these numbers could be if web content were actually more attuned to listeners' wants and desires. This might include more music information and links, better interactivity with the station and its personalities, a chance to network with other listeners, and better concert/entertainment resources. It means providing archived material on the site, from the morning show and other key contributors to the station's sound. As digital mavens are discovering, web usage and actual listening can increase the more listeners access Internet material. But when there's one Web master servicing a half dozen stations, it's hard to expect better, updated, and compelling content.

Finally, at what point is radio going to get serious about generating revenue? Of course, most radio companies are now scrambling to create web policies and practices that will do just that. The future of radio profits is not about adding more units (which of course, only makes matters worse), but beginning to shift the emphasis to digital revenue. That's what "old media" outlets - television, newspapers, cable networks, and magazines - have been doing for some time now.»
Fred Jacobs, http://jacobsmedia.typepad.com/jacobs/2007/02/web_impact.html

Mais um software para identificar músicas

«Do you ever find yourself humming a song whose title, to your frustration, you don't know or can't remember? New search Web site Midomi is designed to actually identify that song for you in as little as 10 seconds. Launching in beta mode on Friday, Midomi allows people to search for a song by singing, humming or whistling a bit of the tune. The site then offers search results that include commercially recorded tracks or versions of the song recorded by others who have used the site. The technology also lets people listen to the exact section of each of the results that matched their voice sample. People also can type in a song title or artist to get results. The system recognizes misspelled words. Melodis, the company behind the site, has licensed 2 million digital tracks that can be purchased and has accumulated about 12,000 more from users. Users, who range from aspiring American Idol contestants to professionals, can create profiles and rate one other's performances on the ad-supported site. »

fonte: «This Web site can name that tune», Elinor Mills, CNET News.com, January 26, 2007, 6:00 AM PT

«Os consumidores têm o controlo» (mais)

«A emissão digital traduz uma ligação ao multimédia, favorecendo a interactividade, ao mesmo tempo que faz desenvolver uma nova linguagem, pela incorporação de novos elementos à sua estrutura discursiva e potencia a criação de novos conteúdos para a mensagem radiofónica. Em paralelo, o esquema de recepção acompanha esta evolução, num novo modelo que transforma o ouvinte num utilizador e favorece a fragmentação das audiências em função dos seus interesses específicos. A Internet veio modificar a forma da recepção radiofónica, transformando o conceito de receptor noutro que se aproxima mais da noção de usuário, pela forma como o ouvinte/utilizador toma uma atitude activa de pesquisa e consumo dos conteúdos.» (Cordeiro, Paula, «A rádio de modelo multimediático e os jovens» in http://bocc.ubi.pt/pag/cordeiro-paula-radio-modelo-multimediatico.pdf (pág. 2)

A rádio deve procurar o video

diz o presidente da Bridge Ratings:

«"Traditional radio should heed this development," Bridge wrote of the latter prediction. "Just because radio has specialized in audio content for 100 years, doesn't mean it can't and shouldn't develop video to complement their brands. And with that will come a new stream of revenue. CPMs are much more lucrative with video on the net." Also, he believes, advertising in digital venues will become more contextual; small-screen devices will have limited appeal as a media platform; and marketers will make some mistakes as they move into new digital spaces.»

fonte: «Bridge: Radio Should Heed Digital Video Online», 4/01/07, RWOnline 

Números da rádio na Internet

«Traditional radio is carving out a bigger piece of the Internet radio pie. According to a J.P. Morgan report, terrestrial radio’s share of total unique visitors hit a new high in November, now at 33.1% compared to 66.9% for Internet operators. Overall, the number of unique visitors to Internet radio in the past 12 months is up 44%, according to a J.P. Morgan report, to 55 million. Since November 2005, the Internet audience has grown at a 3.1% monthly compounded rate. Growth in November was driven by sites run by both terrestrial and Internet radio operators, “though terrestrial had the slight edge,” the authors stated. “The terrestrial operators broke a string of two consecutive declines to grow their unique visitors about 5% sequentially, while the Internet operators rebounded after three straight months of declines to grow close to 2%.” The authors state that, “On a year-over-year basis, growth is much stronger, reflecting the terrestrial operators’ recent investments into their digital/online operations. Unique visitors to the terrestrial operators’ sites are up more than 110% year over year, while the Internet operators’ sites are up about 25% year over year.”»

fonte: «Terrestrial Radio’s Share of Internet Radio Listening Hits New High», RWonline, 21/12/06

A rádio wifi

«Adiós a las radios Am/Fm y al DAB móvil vía satelite. La radio Wi-Fi para internet es la verdadera revolución en el audio doméstico. No tiene rival en cuanto a contenidos, es fácil de usar, versátil, económica y suena de maravilla. La radio Wi-Fi para internet está destinada a ser el dispositivo imprescindible del 2007. Acoustic Energy ha lanzado la primera radio Wi-Fi que permite escuchar mas de 10.000 emisoras de radio online de todo el mundo. Puedes tener la radio en cualquier parte de la casa u oficina y utiliza tu conexión normal de internet via Wi-Fi. Es la primera en dar acceso, desde cualquier rincón del mundo, a más de 10.000 emisoras de radio on-line. La compatibilidad con los 3 formatos más comunes: mp3, Windows Media y Real Player, deja a la radio Wi-Fi de AE sin competencia! Sin tener que pagar cuotas ni subscripciones, sin problemas de recepción, sin ruidos de fondo ni fronteras.»

fonte: «Llega la Radio Wi-Fi»; Nodos.com, 21/12/06, Jesus Garcia

Acabar com os animadores de rádio?!

«RADIO DJs could become a thing of the past with new technology which can personalise stations for music fans across the globe, experts said today. The University of Edinburgh researchers are developing the world's first "personal DJ", which would offer music commentary on-line tailored to a listener's taste. Instead of a DJ providing a voice-over, millions of nuggets of music trivia would be stored on a database and played to the listener using voice-generating software. Those behind the project believe their work could become a commercial reality by the end of next year. And with one in four people in developed countries thought to be tuning in on-line at the moment, experts say the new system could prove a real money-spinner. (...) Nick Wright "More and more people are listening to music on the internet - whether this means new internet radio stations or traditional radio stations streamed on-line," he said. (...)"For instance, if you like Bon Jovi, we could tell you about other work band members have written or produced.- (...) Although the voice is synthesised, the speech sounds natural. Different accents can also be recorded. (...)»

fonte: «Technology could spell the end for radio DJs» Manchester evening news, 21/12/06

Massificar as audiencias da rádio na net

«Cambridge Consultants is preparing to blow wide open the rapidly emerging global internet radio market with a new platform technology designed to massively undercut its competitors. The Cambridge Science Park-based firm believes the low-power internet radio’s sub-$15 (£7.60) electronic bill of materials (eBOM) will rewrite the economics of the sector and create a global market opportunity.
Recent research from radio audience tracker, Bridge Ratings, shows that one in five people in the US – almost 60 million residents – are listening to internet radio at least once a week, a figure that increased 40 per cent in the last year alone.
Head of consumer products at Cambridge Consultants, Duncan Smith, said: “Combined with the existing infrastructure of Wi-Fi and broadband, we believe that the internet radio market is poised to explode as soon as the right product price/performance point is achieved. The Iona platform more than meets that target.”
The Iona Wi-Fi portable radio is based on just two silicon chips and will be launched at CES 2007 in the US at the beginning of January.
Cambridge Consultants believes it could lead to consumer products retailing for around £25 to £30 – under half of most of today’s internet-ready ‘kitchen radio’ type products.
The radio technology is designed to operate without a PC and to be as accessible and easy to use as current portable FM radios.)(...)»

fonte: «Internet radio power play launched», Business Weekly, By Lautaro Vargas, 13 December 2006,

«Over the past year or so, however, there has been talk about a new take on another technology -- Internet radio -- that has the potential to disrupt both the world of satellite radio and good old terrestrial radio. It's called WiFi radio, or wireless Internet radio, and some say its time could be coming soon, thanks to cheaper radio chips and the increasing penetration of public wireless networks.

Internet radio has been around since the Web first started becoming popular in the late 1990s, thanks in large part to the development of the MP3 music-compression standard. When high-speed connections started to become commonplace, people began to share the songs they had downloaded, setting up what amounted to private radio networks with software such as Winamp.

Traditional radio stations also started streaming their music over the Web, and still do, although in many cases their ability to do so has been hampered by copyright regulations, which restrict what they can play over the Internet. (Unfortunately, the licensing agreements that allow radio stations to play songs on the radio don't always allow them to "broadcast" the same music over the Internet.)»

Mais horas na net do que na televisão

«A internet é a mídia que mais atrai usuários com até 54 anos no mundo. São gastas cerca de 16 horas por semana navegando na web. Os dados fazem parte de um estudo divulgado nesta semana pela União Internacional de Telecomunicações (ITU), o braço da ONU para telecom, chamado “igital.life.  De acordo com a pesquisa, o tempo dedicado à navegação na web é oito vezes maior que o dedicado aos jornais, revistas e cinema, quase três vezes maior que o dedicado ao rádio e quatro horas maior que à televisão»

fonte: «Web atrai mais usuários que a TV, diz estudo», Info online, 5/12/06

Notícias a pedido...

«New York - Nov 28, 2006 - Clear Channel Radio’s Online unit has added news and video content from Reuters to its News on Demand service. News on Demand combines on-demand video and text feeds from Reuters with Clear Channel’s existing coverage of news. The service also allows Clear Channel radio stations to upload their own local news to their sites.»

fonte: «Clear Channel Online Teams With Reuters to Power News On Demand», radio Magazine, 27/11/06

«80 % dos bilhetes vendidos na Internet»

Se, como diz Passman, «80% de todos os bilhetes [sobretudo para concertos] são agora vendidos através da Internet» (2006: 344), é óbvio que esse capital de notoriedade não pode ser desperdiçado. Os interessados estão lá. É lá que deve acontecer o marketing. E não, como acontecia, até agora, através da publicidade convencional em jornais, rádios e, nos casos mais relevantes, televisões.

PS - o mesmo autor chama a atenção para o facto de, no arranque da Net, muitas editoras terem registado os domínios na net para muitos dos seus grupos (que provavelmente ainda não tinham descoberto esta realidade). Isso teve como consequência que os sites oficiais são hoje propriedade das editoras, que os controlam, gerem e ainda cobram pelos conteúdos («After the predictable shouting, tugging, and gouging, most deals now provide that, during the term, the company will have an exclusive license to set up the artist's website, and the artist is allowed to set up an "unofficial" website. After the term, the rights go back to the artist, although companies keep the right to have an artist section on their website. Companies want to recoup the costs of creating and maintaining the artist's website», Passman, 2006: 135)

70% das rádios CBS (EUA) estão na net (streaming)

«Remember when CBS wanted little to do with Internet streaming? CBS Radio said it now broadcasts 100 stations online, or 70% of its stations. The most recent is WRKZ(FM) in Pittsburgh. “Extending its audio content to an online platform is an ongoing initiative that CBS Radio began with the launch of the streams of its all-news stations in March 2005,” it stated. “To date, CBS Radio has amassed close to 4 million registered users of the company's online properties.”»

fonte: «CBS Says 70% of Its Stations Are Now Streaming», 30/11/06 Rwonline

 

O primeiro despertador bluetooth

«phones, headsets, and speakers getting Bluetooth, it was inevitable that alarm clocks would get them too. iHome's iHC5 dual-alarm clock radio has wireless capability that lets you both stream music from your PC/phone and act as a speakerphone for your cell. The upside? You won't need both an alarm clock and speakers. – Jason Chen»

fonte: Gizmodo