Content needs to be the key driver of digital radio take-up, according to Austereo’s head of digital strategy Jeremy Macvean, though he insists the amount of new Australian radio stations will not become “overwhelming” for consumers.
Digital radio in Australia took a step forward this week with digital signal switch on in Perth, with Melbourne set to follow next week. While the first phases of the digital switchover campaign will focus on the technological benefits of digital radio, Macvean said it will be content that the networks need to get right to convince people to buy a digital radio.
“The thing this technology allows is more content and that’s where we (the networks) come in. To show our commitment and have conversations about new content and create desire in a new audience,” he said. Macvean is due to speak at the Australian Marketing Institute Summit in Queensland on 27-28 May, where the theme of the event is “Creating Desire” and Macvean will talk about how Austereo will lure people to digital radio.
The Austereo man believes it will be new offerings like Radar, Austereo’s new digital station for unsigned artists, which will drive take-up, and insists lessons have been learned from other countries, like the US and UK, where the plethora of digital radio stations launched proved too much, with many closures. “It requires a certain level of focus so it doesn’t become overwhelming,” he said.
“We need to make sure it’s as easy as possible for consumers to understand what is on offer. We have learnt from other markets.” Digital radio is currently going through a soft launch period, with the current campaign around educating consumers, with a larger campaign and official launch of digital radio expected in August. As well as attracting consumers Macvean argued the flexibility of digital radio will be attractive to advertisers to “create desire” with them too.
He highlighted Austereo’s recent initiative to create a three month long digital radio station called Pink Radio, which will play Pink’s music 24 hours a day to support her Optus-sponsored tour of Australia. “One big benefit of digital radio is that there’s a capacity for client flexibility, as there’s a great opportunity for client integration. I can’t speak on behalf of all radio, but I do expect to see more of that,” Macvean added.
