How is digital media changing radio as a medium?
Much like everything else on the media and communications landscape, radio has also been impacted by digital and has found itself a stable place within the digital universe. Thanks to mobile apps and web streaming, even local radio has now gone global, as listeners can tune in and keep up with their favorite local radio station from anywhere in the world. This in itself represents a major breakthrough for any radio station’s reach.
Integrated radio and digital marketing also have strong synergies, especially when they tap into people’s existing multi-tasking behaviour. Many listeners visit their favourite radio station’s website to enter a radio competition, or to find out more about a promotion, etc. They might also go online to check out a station’s or presenter’s social media accounts to keep up to date with the station when they can’t listen to their specific desired show. Radio and digital media therefore complement each other, as digital can help radio stations to boost their listenership while, vice versa, radio can help drive traffic to online platforms. For these reasons, brands stand to gain a lot of traction by running their campaigns on both radio and digital.
How are consumers changing the way they listen to content?
Today, audiences are seeking more and more personalised experiences when it comes to consuming audio content. This is evident through the growth of music-on-demand platforms such as Anghami, YouTube and Spotify, where users get to decide exactly when, where and what they are going to be tuning into. The drive for radio stations and broadcasters to meet such demands has led to the growth of podcasts, recorded shows on mobile apps and an abundance of online music.
What advice would you give to marketers looking to reach people with audio content?
Radio continues to retain its popularity as a great advertising medium for a variety of reasons, which range from its cost efficiency and stability to its ability to be synchronised with TV campaigns and its reputation for being a credible and trusted source of the latest and breaking news. Audio content is enabling marketers to extend their reach and build their brands. Radio today remains one of the biggest mass-reach medium platforms for advertisers, as brands continue to try to engage more with listeners. If leveraged smartly and effectively, radio also represents great potential for achieving ROI.
