Radio industry boss: ‘Streaming will never replace radio but the future must be hybrid’
Warner: “DAB+ does not buffer or cause network congestion if large numbers of listeners tune in”
The head of the Commercial Radio Australia has dismissed suggestions there will ever be a time when streaming of radio content on the internet overtakes the terrestrial broadcast of radio.
Joan Warner, CEO of CRA, made the remarks at the media launch of the new LG Stylus DAB+ phone, where she announced the industry would provide $5m in contra advertising over six weeks aimed at promoting the phone, which is the first smartphone device to include a digital radio device.
On the future role of streaming radio, Warner dismissed it as viable replacement to the existing model, saying: “We frequently face the assumption that streaming will eventually or even now is replacing broadcast radio as the main method of listening to radio.
At least with streaming I can receive it, more than I can say for DAB+ which doesn’t even exist outside the capital cities.
“Cars are not a form of transport.” – Head of Commercial Horse Australia, 1916
Hi David. At least you acknowdge radio is radio and important to you. Yes – good detecting. DAB+ is still available only in ciries and Canberra and Darwin trials. Did you deliberately miss the bit about Govt and industry jointly planning rollout to regions? Actually … quicker than DTV? Are you employed, sadly, by Spotify or Pandora which would dearly love, and keep trying, to ride on radio’s reach but can’t quite get there? Struggle on and continue to denigrate that to which you aspire. Reach and loyalty of radio listeners.
Next week Joan Warner will be a Streaming Service Industry Boss and pronounce the death of radio.
Come on!
Why do they say this?
Oh dear. I love it when senior industry leaders make wide sweeping statements about the future.
Google’s Engineering VP in 2009 said “app stores are a dead end”…
Warner may want to read-up on how Apple and Google have a different view for their integrated car multimedia systems and how they are going to take over terrestrial broadcasts mobile data services….
Need we say any more on Netflix and how terrestrial broadcast TV has been affected by streaming vendors.
Even Apples CarPlay page suggests it’s iTunes is bigger and more exciting to engage with than a hardware button with “radio” printed on it….
Seriuossly….. look at the real figures. I will not be predicting the end of broadcast radio in our lifetime because anyone that understands both technology and listener behaviour would know that prediction would be ignorant of the actual facts and uninformed. Pls be clear. Music streaming (not radio) and live and local radio are two completely different offerings and are not competitors – no matter what music streaming services may wish, they are no more than the cassette recordungs or mp3 downloads of the past – they are not radio in all its live and local non music forms.
Streaming will never replace radio… another Dinosaur having a whinge as it’s slowly dragged into the tarpit
These industry lobby groups need more inspiring leaders. This is some insomnia curing sentiment if I’ve ever heard it. zzzzzzzzz
Reach may be relatively stable for radio but time spent listening looks to be falling. There’s no suggestion consumers are dictating an either/or so why are we considering ‘replacement’ as the only outcome. Consumers are exercising their right to choice. Radio and music streaming compete under ‘share of ear’ from a consumer pov. They make a choice every time they want to listen to something…radio, music streaming, podcasts etc. Suggesting they don’t compete seems convenient.
Never say Never. There may conceivably be a time when radio ceases to exist, but it is very unlikely in the lifetime of anyone alive today.
Radio has so many advantages over any other medium, that it could even be said to be still expanding and developing.
Radio advertising has long been overlooked by advertisers and agencies, and has even been abused, yet it will outlive newspapers and magazines, and looks likely to outstrip television, though that is very much in the lap of the gods.
Television is redeemable, and will be, if it is ever treated with some little respect, rather than milked to death by the greedy.
Unfortunately, a chunk of radio has also been hijacked by the greedy, it has so much more going for it than music, music, music, strung like a necklace with ads, ads, ads. but some (too many) do not think so.
Ha ha – from an industry that is still using 1960s methods to measure their audience. If they in fact measure audience – when was the last Queensland regional audience survey done? Hopeless.
Yes, Montague et al, the “smart young people” are paying $5 an hour in streaming costs to listen to a radio station that they can hear for free on a $10 wireless set….
Of course it’s technically possible and has been for ages with multicast and QoS. 50+Gigabyte bandwidth allocations mean even streaming audio non-stop, 24 hours day wouldn’t max out a mobile data cap. The issue is no longer one of technology, it’s now consumer choice. CarPlay and Android Auto bypass radio’s stronghold; the built-in car entertainment UI, and that’s a huge problem. It’s no longer about a linear channel of lowest common denominator, broadest appeal programming. Additionally edge caching media content at the telco solves backhaul congestion and the bursty nature of bandwidth is irrelevant if RTP/RTSP streaming is eliminated. Buffered HTTP ‘live streaming’ works just great. Compared with Netflix, mobile multimedia is easy.
@richard moss – radio advertising isn’t overlooked by agencies. Spend is up and it’s been outperforming the market ex digital for years.
@ Ad buyer
Thanks for this elevating news. I have always had a soft spot for radio, and in many years of working in the industry, I have always held radio in very high esteem..
Thanks again for correcting me, and reassuring me also.