Radio and New Platforms Across the World

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James Cridland - late of these parts - is back from his travels around the world. And he’s presenting at a Radio Academy London Branch event on Thursday 24 February telling us about what he discovered as he went.

It’s sure to sell out quickly so, if you’re a Radio Academy member then RSVP quickly as it’s free, and if you’re not, well it’s only £10.

dabbl Award Nomination

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dabbl, our new user-controlled digital station has been short-listed for the highly prestigious 2010 MediaGuardian Innovation Awards in the Community Engagement category.

The awards are swiftly becoming a benchmark for innovation in media as they recognise those at the pinnacle of achievement in media innovation. The finalists and winners represent thinkers and doers in UK media who act as a catalyst for change and inspire others with their ideas and actions.

The awards ceremony will take place on 25th March so keep your fingers crossed till then.

Congratulations to all involved!

Absolute Radio now available on the Apple iPad? by Paul Brown

Earlier in the week I reported that Absolute Radio were the first radio station in Europe (and quite possibly the World) on the Amazon Kindle. I am now pleased to announce that the One Golden Square Labs team have been busy testing the Absolute Radio iAmp widget on the iPad SDK emulator and as you’ll see in the sneak preview video below, it’s ready for when the iPad goes on sale!

Once the iPad officially launches you’ll be able to listen to Absolute Radio, Absolute Classic Rock, Absolute 80’s and dabbl on your iPad.

Is this another first for Absolute Radio? Well, I haven’t seen any other listen live radio applications running on the iPad emulator, have you?

Paul

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RAJAR Q4 2009 Summary

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As you’ll have already seen on the blog, the most recent RAJAR figures were published first thing this morning.

This morning we went through the results with everyone at Absolute Radio and you can see the slides we went through below.

Most of the core findings of RAJAR are detailed in our press release.

And if you read the online versions of the trade press, there’s been plenty of coverage with other stations publicising their good news stories.

So here are a few interesting findings we’ve spotted so far this time around, including some more Absolute Radio stats:

  • All radio reach has risen from last quarter, after an all time record two quarters ago.
  • The average number of hours that our listeners spend with Absolute Radio is now at an all time - 7.6 hours a week. And yes, that includes this station’s predecessor. It’s a record for nearly 17 years of station history.
  • Absolute Radio has seen growth in listening coming from men and from 35-54 year olds.
  • Listening to both Christian and Geoff increased over the past quarter.
  • Commercial Radio narrowed the gap on the BBC a small amount with a 42.6% share compared with the BBC’s 55.2%. This in spite of some of the larger groups seeing some falls this quarter in overall listening.
  • Classic FM has seen some decreases, although TalkSport has seen another good RAJAR.
  • In London, LBC has had a great result, which we think is probably down to their investment in talent. Capital has seen a big fall in hours, although Johnny Vaughan has done very well at breakfast and is the clear leader at that time in London.
  • Otherwise in London things are as tight as ever, with Capital, Heart, Magic and now LBC all battling for top spot depending on measure. Magic can claim to have most listening (time actually spent hearing the station), while Heart will claim more listeners. But this is a game which is like to change every quarter.
  • Absolute Radio’s digital listening continues to grow, and at a time when the future of radio in the UK is being decided in Parliament, it’s worth noting that 24.8% of a total of 32% of digital listening to all Absolute Radio services is now via the DAB platform. We’re strong proponents of digital television and especially the internet, but it’s clear that currently DAB is the preferred way to listen to Absolute Radio.
  • If you look at our National service, that 32% rises to a colossal 54% of listening via a digital platform; 42.5% coming from DAB. If you’re still listening to us via AM outside London, it really is worth the modest investment to get a DAB digital radio.
  • Some have noted that our digital gains are against a backdrop of digital listening falling fractionally overall this quarter from 21.1% to 20.9%. It’s worth noting that this isn’t a statistically significant decrease - being just 0.2% down - but of course we’d love to see another increase next time around. The figure is up from 18.3% a year ago, so the trend remains upwards. And the number of people living in households with a DAB set has increased from 15.1m to 17.1m over the same period. As ever, lots of DAB digital radios were sold this Christmas, so from Q1 2010 more listening than ever is likely to come from DAB and other digital platforms.

Absolute Radio RAJAR: Q4 2009

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4th February 2010

EMBARGOED UNTIL 7AM THURSDAY 4th FEBRUARY

  • Absolute Radio posts a 2.1% increase in total hours quarter on quarter
  • The station announces a new marketing campaign set to roll out from the end of February focusing on Christian O’Connell, Frank Skinner and Dave Gorman
  • Absolute Radio’s national listening via a digital platform has risen to 54%. It remains the only radio group to have hit the 50% digital listening penetration target set out in the Digital Britain report

This quarter, Absolute Radio has shown an increase in total hours – a strong indicator of listener satisfaction - of 2.1% quarter on quarter in today’s RAJAR results. Christian O’Connell’s breakfast audience has also increased by 5% to 845,000 per week quarter on quarter.

The station’s reach has dropped by 5.9% quarter on quarter. Absolute Radio is announcing a brand new marketing campaign set to roll out at from the end of February 2010. The creative will focus on the station’s new 7 Day Breakfast offering, featuring week day presenter Christian O’Connell and newly-signed comedic talent Frank Skinner and Dave Gorman who host Saturday and Sunday morning shows respectively.

Year on year the station records a drop of 20.9% in reach and 9.9% in total hours which, given the rebrand of the station, is well within our forecasts.

Absolute Radio is a pioneer within the radio industry with 54% of the station’s national listening now on a digital platform (up 9% year on year and 2.5% quarter on quarter) compared to the industry average of 20.9%. It remains the only radio group to have hit the 50% national digital listening penetration target set out in the Digital Britain report earlier this year.

Said Clive Dickens, Chief Operating Officer, Absolute Radio: “Total listening hours are a strong indicator of listener satisfaction and we are very pleased with this result. Our monthly live streamed hours which we released last week – a new measurement system of accurate data from internet devices, show that we also now have 6.9 million hours recorded listening for the brand network for December, an increase of 10.3% from September.”

With product satisfaction amongst our listeners growing, our focus will continue to be on increasing our reach, especially in the morning with our new breakfast marketing campaign.”
Absolute Radio is a music and entertainment brand with audio at its core that is in transition from an analogue to a digital world. Digital innovation is core to the station’s business and Absolute Radio continues to lead the radio industry.

Source: RAJAR / Ipsos - MORI / RSMB, period ending December 2009, all stations and groups results are reported on their specified reporting period and TSA.