The radio industry appeals for government bailout amid falling revenues
The commercial radio industry has asked for a crisis relief package to be issued by the Federal Government, helping broadcasters handle falling ad revenues amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Industry body Commercial Radio Australia (CRA) has already put forward a package of options to Communications Minister Paul Fletcher, with the focus on lessening regulatory constraints and compliance burdens.
CRA CEO Joan Warner said the industry is struggling.
“The Australian Government can provide much-needed relief and certainty by easing regulatory constraints and the heavy compliance burden on local radio,” Warner said.
“We also call on the Federal Government to divert a proportion of its marketing spend from global digital platforms to local Australian radio at a time when it is needed the most.
“Radio is the most local of all media. The targeted community service, sense of community and live and local content that we provide can’t, and won’t, be replicated by global platforms such as Google and Facebook.”
The radio industry isn’t the first media arm to appeal to the government for support. $5m has already been pledged for regional media, but industry bodies have said that isn’t enough to undo the damage already caused by COVID-19.
Regional radio is currently exempt from the payout, something Warner is ‘deeply disappointed’ about.
“With local print disappearing and TV content being scaled back, Australians will rely on local commercial radio more than ever as a trusted source to keep them informed, entertained and connected,” she said.
Warner’s concern is that the worst of the COVID-19 impacts won’t be seen in revenue reports until the end of June, although the figures released later this month are expected to show a downturn.
“Many advertisers large and small have cancelled or reduced advertising. This has led to job cuts across the industry at a time when the increase in workload of providing live and local radio services to the 95% of Australians who listen to radio, with nearly 80% of those listening to commercial radio, is unprecedented,” Warner said.
The measures requested by CRA include increasing radio’s share of the current COVID-19 information campaign and other government advertising to at least 15% of total government ad spend and providing immediate relief from spectrum licence fees for two years.
The industry would also like the government to change regulation to allow MPs’ to use their electorate communications allowances on local radio, especially in regions. The current rules allow MPs to use their allocations on social media to inform constituents of news and events in their electorates, but not radio.
Most of the requests from the radio industry seem both fair and reasonable. There is no doubt that radio, particularly in regional areas is a highly effective form of communication. It is certainly deserving of its rightful share of the current government advertising expenditure. Radio also has the added advantage of relatively low costs of creative and production compared to other media. One wonders, if the push by some to use a majority of advertisibg expenditure in online digital mediums is as much a result of media agency cost structures as it is of prudent and effective media planning and buying. Peter Menton
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