Year: 2024

At a one day workshop in Tunisia this week, the Arab States Broadcasting Union explored the latest trends in digital archiving for radio and television content.ASBU has also developed a cloud storage and exchange system for its members, and that was also showcased at the workshop.ASBU Cloud consists of high-security servers on global cloud networks and high-speed Internet connections, offering many applications and services that can be used in the audiovisual and IT fields, including, most importantly content exchanges in the form of live broadcasts or files with editorial information.A presentation from Australian expert Steve Ahern, showcased the latest radio digital archiving techniques and also exposed participants to the next innovations that are coming to archiving with the introduction of AI to Archiving systems.Ahern spoke about using archives to promote trust and remind audiences that radio and tv broadcasters have been around long enough to build a legacy of credible content that is real and editorially curated. With so much fake news and disinformation on the internet, audiences need to know which organisations they can believe.Cloud storage is becoming cheaper and easier to use, but security is paramount to protect valuable historical archives from hacking and manipulation. The ASBU Cloud is a valuable resource for members.Due to the value of archival content, Ahern urged workshop participants to find safe ways to monetise their content, but to ensure that the provenance of the content can be proven by digital watermarking and other techniques, so that , if it is pirated then the copyright holders can take action to recover payment and reparations for the content theft.

Ahern explained how new AI tools are being added to archiving systems, mentioning various systems such as Media Guru and Vida which he has reported on in conference articles for radioinfo. The same AI tools used to revive John Lennon’s voice for the Beatles song Now and Then are being deployed now in archival systems to clean up old audio and video and make it more usable. With the addition of speech to text and synthetic voice tools, the possibilities for new types of production featuring people who have passed away, is now possible. Ahern warned however, that if sing the new tools for generate synthetic content, it must be fully declared and explained so that audiences do not perceive it as fake content.Broadcasters are creating the future now of how they can use archival material from the past. “Used wisely it will bring credibility to you as broadcasters and also enrich society by making real moments of political and cultural history available to everyone in your country,” said Ahern.Organised by the Head of ASBU Radio, Yasser Garrana, the workshop also featured a rundown of current tools used by ASBU Members delivered by Egyptian expert Dr. Mohamed Abdel Majeed (pictured).Some of  the tools are listed in the presentation slides below (text in Arabic). Other presentations in the workshop included a talk on copyright by Ramzi Al-Qarwashi and showcase presentations from Sudanese, Iraqi  and Lebanese Radio. […]

Technological innovation is rapidly improving products and driving growth across the consumer audio industry, according to Kavish Patel, Research Analyst at Futuresource, who delivered the opening presentation at the Audio Collaborative 2024 conference in London today.Patel presented a wide breadth of market data and analysis based on Futuresources’s annual Consumer Home Audio Market report including industry growth figures, consumer preferences and trend identification.He highlighted five key insights:Consumer audio can expect 4% growth in 2024.The consumer audio market is predicted to increase 4% from $81bn to $85bn a year from 2023 to 2024, driven by the headphones segment which represents 67% of the market and is growing at 7%.Factors driving growth are (1) sound quality, (2) battery life and (3) ease of use.

Technological innovation is rapidly changing the audio industry.Spatial audio, Bluetooth Low Energy (BTLE), Ultra Wideband (UWB) and Biometrics are four key technologies that are driving change in products across the audio industry.Spatial audio is becoming more prominent with spatial audio standards like Dolby Atmos becoming more prevalent within mass-market devices. Over 47% of soundbars are expected to support spatial audio by 2028.Bluetooth Low Energy is enabling products to connect to more devices at once, while increasing battery life performance, enabling consumers to wear devices for longer while switching easily between audio sources.Ultra Wideband is a very low power wireless technology that can deliver high quality audio transmission. Its use within the headphone segment is aiming to achieve audio streaming quality comparable to wired headphones.Biometrics is in its early stages with integration into audio products but has emerged as a trend in 2024. Brands are placing multiple biometric sensors into headphones, which in combination with artificial intelligence, provides consumers more health tracking capabilities. This has been most prominent in Apple’s release of its newest Airpods Pro.TWS (True Wireless Stereo) is fuelling headphone growth.The True Wireless Stereo (most commonly known as wireless earbuds) category represents 70% of the headphones market segment and is the key driver of headphones growth.The sector is also being propelled by growth in Over-Ear headphones which represent $12bn in value while In-Ear Wired products continue to decline with sales totalling $2bn.TWS growth is expected to slow between 2024 and 2028 as the market reaches saturation and product quality increases in the direction of more durability and repairability.Over-ear headphones are making a comeback.Growth in Over-Ear headphones has made a comeback since 2023. Sony is the biggest brand operating in this category, while new entrants like Sonos, which released its first headband product earlier this year, are also fuelling category growth.Consistent product innovation in over-ear headphones including features like spatial audio, ANC (active noise cancellation) and conversation enhancement technologies is driving consumer demand in this category. Consumers are willing to invest more in their Over-Ear Headphones for these features, along with better durability and battery life.Home audio is readjusting after a pandemic boom.The home audio segment is expected to decline by 2% in 2024, with bluetooth speakers representing the only expanding product category at 4% year on year growth.Within home audio, wireless speakers are the dominant category representing $16bn in value, while soundbars and hi-fi systems trail at $6bn and $1bn respectively.Audio Collaborative is an annual audio industry conference that brings together industry experts to analyse trends and market insights from across audio. […]