ASIA

By Edison ResearchThis post is from Edison’s Weekly Insights email.  Please click here if you would like to subscribe.
Choices, choices. The in-car audio landscape today offers myriad options, including radio receivers, satellite radio receivers, voice-activated speakers, and Bluetooth or aux cord capabilities that allow for listening to smartphones and other content. Increasingly, vehicles are equipped with smartphone-based infotainment systems Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and consumers are moving towards a seamless phone-to-audio experience.
How does the presence of these systems affect the time spent consuming audio in-car?

This week’s insight comes from Edison Research’s Share of Ear dataset, which is based on a one-day listening diary and measures the amount of time those in the U.S. age 13+ spend with all audio. Respondents also answer some demographic and consumer questions, including the presence of audio infotainment in-car systems in the primary vehicle in which they drive or ride.
The graphic below compares the in-car daily audio time for those who don’t have Apple CarPlay or Android Audio in the primary vehicle they drive or ride in, versus those who do have one of the systems.

The top bar shows that among listeners who don’t have Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, they spend the majority of their in-car audio time, 67%, listening to AM/FM radio, including over-the-air and streams. They spend 9% of their audio time streaming, 12% with SiriusXM, 4% with Podcasts, and 8% of their audio time with some other audio source, such as CDs.
The bottom bar shows that those who do have Apple CarPlay or Android Auto in their primary vehicles spend twice as much time streaming: 18% of their daily in-car audio time is spent streaming, compared with 9% of daily in-car audio time spent streaming by those without the systems. They also spend more of their daily in-car audio time with podcasts than listeners who don’t have the systems: 7% compared with 4%.
Listeners who do have Apple CarPlay or Android Auto spend 46% of their time with AM/FM — 27% less than those who don’t have CarPlay or Auto.

Even those with these systems choose AM/FM for nearly half of their in-car listening. For many people, even with so many new options, radio and the in-car environment continue to just go together. […]

By Jamie Wood February 14, 2014, marks the day I touched down at Adelaide Airport, ready to dive headfirst into an incredible career opportunity as the sales director for the leading radio station in the market. I was a fresh-faced 27-year-old with big ambitions and even bigger challenges ahead.As I stepped into the role, I quickly realized that despite our station’s dominance in the ratings, the city of churches was a unique market set to throw some major headwinds my way!

The Hurdles.First off, Adelaide was birthplace of two of Australia’s top three FM networks. These competitors had a “head office feel” about them, loaded with resources and backed by national executives right there in the local market, An intimidating competitive set by any measure.Secondly, the economic landscape in Adelaide was grim. Key industries like manufacturing and auto were in sharp decline, resulting in soaring unemployment rates. From an advertising standpoint, we were left with all networks aggressively vying for finite revenue opportunity.But perhaps the most challenging was our station’s pricing. Despite our leading ratings position, we were priced at a 20% to 40% premium on the market and had plenty of national demand putting pressure on our fill rates.It was clear that if we were going to change our fortunes, we needed a radically different plan.  Here’s the 3 major strategic initiatives we deployed.

Differentiate like hell. In a highly commoditised market where vanity metrics like “number of spots” and buying metrics like “reach and frequency” dominated, we doubled down on audience quality.  We made it our mantra that “not all audiences are created equal.” In every sales pitch, brief, ratings discussion, and piece of marketing material, we drove home the point that our audience wasn’t just big; they were big spenders. We showcased their income, spending habits, and the purchases tied to their life stages. In a tough economy, this message struck a chord with advertisers eager to make every dollar count. Sacrifice the small. Rather than chasing after every radio dollar, we set our sights on clients with a high price tolerance. Our target: the top 25 advertisers across all media. We traded the hard sell for a consultative approach. We listened, learned about their long-term challenges and objectives, and then presented proactive solutions that went beyond quick fixes. Yes, it was a patient game, and we weathered some rough revenue months, but our laser focus on the market’s biggest spenders set us apart from the competition, promising substantial dividends down the road. Optimise the inventory. Our premium pricing was largely driven by the high demand from interstate bookings. After a huge audit, we uncovered a treasure trove of remnant inventory and lower-demand sessions that we could offer as value-add or at significant discounts. We got programming on board and asked for exclusive on-air features and benchmarks tailored specifically for local clients. Through clever scheduling and inventive packaging, clients could unlock high-reaching media plans, blending premium inventory with strategic value-adds and seamless integration. Forget individual spot rates; the real magic lay in the overall value equation. So what? These were undoubtedly some of the most trying years of my career, humbling in many ways. However, after two years of embracing these strategies, we delivered revenue growth of 24.5% in a declining market and clinched the Australian Commercial Radio award for the best metro sales team too.To anyone out there facing seemingly insurmountable odds, here’s the takeaway: when the rules of the game aren’t stacked in your favour, create a new game that you can win.About the AuthorJamie Wood is the Global Sales Director of Boost Media International, Boost provides revenue solutions and advisory services to media companies globally.  Jamie also hosts Media Sales Mastery a top rated podcast showcasing best practice from some of the industry’s top thought-leaders.    […]

Customer Service or Customer ExperienceSelling Radio Direct with Pat BrysonI have the privilege of working with some very good sales staffs. Over the years, we have progressed from learning the basics to polishing our diamonds. One of our latest initiatives is moving from good customer service to a great customer experience.

In case you don’t know the difference, customer service is usually initiated by the customer. They contact us needing something. Were they able to connect with us easily? Was our receptionist (are there still any of these left?) or our voice mail efficient? Did they need an invoice or copy? Did we take good care of their needs? We’ve all experienced good customer service and bad customer service.Have we experienced a great customer experience? The “customer experience” involves what happens before and after customer service. It is every contact a potential customer has with our brand. “Customer experience” becomes a new mountain to climb.One of my salespeople recently sent me a note about a customer experience she had had. I was more than impressed.This lady has two dogs that are the light of her life. One of the dogs, Annie, was a blue heeler that had reached 105 in human years. Since 2018, Cheryl had ordered dog food from Chewy. Over the past few years, Annie required medication which she also bought from Chewy. She always experienced rapid delivery, correct orders, ease of purchase. She got good customer service.Recently Annie passed on. This was a difficult time: Annie was a member of the family, and the remaining pup was lost without her.

Cheryl called to cancel Annie’s medicine and part of the monthly dog food. The last order had already been mailed, but Chewy refunded her money and told her to donate the product to the local animal shelter. That’s very nice, in itself.What happened next comes under the heading of “great customer experience.”Pics: suppliedCheryl received the above flower arrangement from Chewy. The people at Chewy chose a local florist (who happens to be one of our clients) to deliver the flowers. Cheryl’s comment, “They have a customer for life!”In the coming weeks we will talk more about how to raise our customers’ experience to new levels. What do we do now? What can we do?Creating an extraordinary customer experience will create customers for life.Happy Servicing and Happy Selling!Main Pic: Shutterstock […]

Mediacorp’s talent reality competition Suara Juara – The Star Voice 2023 has crowned Ezam Ernady as its winner after weeks of intense competition.Ezam edged out fellow finalists Farihin Anwar and Raihan Yacob, won a $10,000 cash prize and a Mediacorp contract to be a radio presenter with Malay radio station RIA 897.Launched as an initiative to allow individuals to fulfil their passion in radio broadcasting and hosting, the competition tested contestants on their hosting and interviewing skills as well as content creation ability.

Hosted by RIA 897’s Azura Goh and Fadli Kamsani, the finals saw Ezam, Farihin and Raihan go head-to-head in two rounds of competition.In the first, the three showed off their artistic skills by putting up enthralling song and dance items. Creatively mashing up popular traditional tunes, Ezam delivered a lively stage act and captivated the live audience who burst into applause at the end of his performance.In the second round, the finalists were tested on their spontaneity and ability to deliver an engaging interview segment – essential skills required of a radio presenter. With 60 percent of their scores at stake here, the three were tasked to conduct individual interviews with Najip and were assessed for their creativity, content, personality and phonetics. Ezam sought Najip’s thoughts on the potential of success between an aspiring artiste driven by financial rewards versus another who is fuelled by passion, and whether social media alone is sufficient in ensuring one’s relevant in the industry today. Ezam’s thought-provoking topic impressed the judges and secured his win, given his equally remarkable performance in the previous round.Expressing surprise at the results, Ezam described his victory as “a dream come true”. He added: “I am beyond delighted to have made my supportive family proud with this win. Throughout this journey, the team of encouraging mentors has imparted valuable advice and knowledge which greatly helped me in improving my linguistic and presentation skills.”Simone Lum, Head for Growth & Audio, Mediacorp, said: “Today, we witnessed exceptional performances from the Top 3 and we are extremely proud of them.” […]

India’s Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has approved new rates for advertisements to be issued on private FM radio stations for its policies and programmes.The new rates, which have been announced after eight years, include a 43 per cent increase in the base rate taking in to account the rising costs dynamics for the period of December 2015 to March 2023. The move would benefit more than 400 community radio stations across the country.The pricing formula for finalising the advertising rates takes into account various factors such as city population and listenership data from the India Readership Survey (IRS) of 2019, said a statement issued by the Ministry.

With this increase, the Gross Base Rate for FM radio advertisement will increase from Rs 52 to Rs 74 per 10 seconds.  The adjustment is intended to maintain parity with current market rates. Based on this formula along with the enhanced base rate, almost all private FM radio stations will benefit from the new recommended rates at varying percentages depending largely on their listenership giving value for both FM stations and the clients of Central Bureau of Communication.Based on this formula the rates for 106 stations will increase by 100 percent, a 50 to 100 percent increase for 81 stations, and a less than 50 percent increase for 65 stations for which listenership data is available.The Rate Structure Committee for Private FM Radio Stations was set up by the Ministry last year to evaluate and recommend new rates which were last revised in 2015. The Committee submitted its recommendations after holdings several rounds of meetings with industry experts and stakeholders in addition to taking inputs from bodies like Association of Radio Operators of India. […]

Key DRM stakeholders in India, and other parts of Asia and the world, gathered virtually for a news-packed meeting on October 12, stressing once again the need for the Government to take a decision on the FM band digitisation. The 40 key participants represented the automotive industry, public and private Indian broadcasters, chipset, module and receiver manufacturers from India, China, UK and Germany; other important decision-makers interested in the success of digital radio DRM in India also took part.The event offered a unique opportunity to get the latest and important DRM news from Asia. They refer to the Indonesian government pronouncing DRM as the standard for Digital Radio Broadcasting in MW and FM bands, and in VHF Band III, China’s commitment to DRM and the recommendation for the automotive industry to include DRM AM receivers in cars, as well as the firm commitment to DRM in all bands and its rollout in Pakistan.The update on digital radio in India and the latest TRAI recommendations, as well as the extra services offered by DRM (like Emergency Warning Functionality) and the new revenue possibilities opened up by DRM were at the heart of the presentation.

The new DRM1000 module of CML Micro/Cambridge Consultants, its integration into new Gospell receivers, the developments announced by the Indian company, Inntot, and the global perspective brought by NXP (NXP) rounded up a strong event. This underlined the growing strength of digital radio (in the AM and FM bands), the continued investments in DRM and the need for completing the Indian DRM roll-out.The conclusion of the meeting was that the Indian government needs to take a clear decision on digitising the FM bands. There was also the suggestion made to the government to add to the recent cell phone recommendation (to include FM) that of adding DRM and EWF requirement. At the end of the meeting the Indian and other major DRM stakeholders committed once again their support and readiness to get involved in the full DRM roll-out in India. […]