“Let's dance again”: why is radio still too early to bury
We recently wrote about why FM radio is at the end of its capabilities . The article caused a heated discussion, many readers were categorically disagree with the fact that FM radio stations have no chance of survival. We do not refuse our words, but in this material we will explain why the decline of broadcasting (at least in Russia) will last for many more years.
Darkday CC-BY photo
The bulk of Russian consumers is quite difficult to “shake” the transition to new technologies. In that post, we mentioned the full transition of Norway to digital broadcasting. But even in this advanced European country, a lot of discontented people appeared - about two thirds of the population, according to polls, do not agree with the rejection of FM broadcasting.
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The transition to the "digit" is the transition to new receivers. And if more advanced metropolitan students and the audience in large regional centers are ready to buy them, then the majority of radio amateurs will be left out.
With this scenario, radio stations will very easily lose the “hesitant” audience, that is, the one that listens to the radio by chance, for example, in a car or in the background in the kitchen / work. These people are unlikely to specifically buy a digital receiver in order to continue to "randomly" listen to the radio.
It turns out that at this moment there is still no good and competent alternative to FM radio broadcasting: the main audience of radio stations still falls on motorists.
Proponents of the theory of sunset broadcasting primarily mention Internet stations and podcasting as a replacement for FM - but all this remains inaccessible to the average motorist (and if available, by fraud with 3G modems, adapters or connecting via phone). More information about the problems of digital radio in the car can be found here .
Those who listen to the radio constantly and those who do not quite understand how you can listen to FM in the 21st century. In the comments to our previous post about the radio there was a link to the survey "Are there still people who listen to the on-air radio not in the car".
Most of the respondents said “yes”, while in completely different situations: someone listens to the radio as a background at work and at home, someone while drowning a bath / cleans the room, someone constantly in the morning to cheer up. Of course, this is a very small sample, but the TNS study also provides very positive data on the share of listening to radio stations for 2015.
The main "pain" of radio stations is stereotypes (judging by the same comments). For example, people imagine broadcasting radio exclusively as a collection of constantly recurring songs, commercials, “stupid DJs and vulgar shows”.
In some cases this is the case, from the end of the nineties - the beginning of zero, such a format is present at many, including very high-ranking stations. But they work exclusively for the consumer - as long as there is feedback, there will be content.
Do not forget that with the development of FM in Russia, thousands of radio stations of various formats appeared: there are only music (including without advertising), there are conversational, there are educational, political, children's, adults, and even military. Perhaps those who scold the modern FM-radio, just have not yet found their radio station.
Do not bury yet. All reports and ratings show that radio stations are slowly but surely losing their audience. This is a natural process that is influenced by many factors: growing up and aging of the audience, technical progress and the development of the Internet, as a result - the emergence of new sources of information, information overload.
The loss of an audience leads to a loss of funding, which leads to a drop in the quality of on-air content, which, in turn, scares the remaining audience. We can say that FM radio stations are terminally ill, but they will live until these factors finish the broadcast.
There is also a positive point: many radio station owners did not wait for the agony and began to "stir": they organized Internet broadcasting, built whole complexes with their community, photo-video content, went on the air and adjusted to progress.
Another part of these enthusiasts began to invent new formats in order to attract the audience: promotions, contests and reality shows, collaborations with famous brands, manufacturers and media.
Such attempts may eventually lead to the evolution of the radio format into something new, modern and appropriate to the needs of the target audience. In the meantime, it remains to enjoy the long but beautiful sunset of the era of FM broadcasting in the traditional sense.
PS What else do we write about:
Darkday CC-BY photoWe are not able to do otherwise
The bulk of Russian consumers is quite difficult to “shake” the transition to new technologies. In that post, we mentioned the full transition of Norway to digital broadcasting. But even in this advanced European country, a lot of discontented people appeared - about two thirds of the population, according to polls, do not agree with the rejection of FM broadcasting.
')
The transition to the "digit" is the transition to new receivers. And if more advanced metropolitan students and the audience in large regional centers are ready to buy them, then the majority of radio amateurs will be left out.
With this scenario, radio stations will very easily lose the “hesitant” audience, that is, the one that listens to the radio by chance, for example, in a car or in the background in the kitchen / work. These people are unlikely to specifically buy a digital receiver in order to continue to "randomly" listen to the radio.
It turns out that at this moment there is still no good and competent alternative to FM radio broadcasting: the main audience of radio stations still falls on motorists.
Proponents of the theory of sunset broadcasting primarily mention Internet stations and podcasting as a replacement for FM - but all this remains inaccessible to the average motorist (and if available, by fraud with 3G modems, adapters or connecting via phone). More information about the problems of digital radio in the car can be found here .
As usual, there are two types of people.
Those who listen to the radio constantly and those who do not quite understand how you can listen to FM in the 21st century. In the comments to our previous post about the radio there was a link to the survey "Are there still people who listen to the on-air radio not in the car".
Most of the respondents said “yes”, while in completely different situations: someone listens to the radio as a background at work and at home, someone while drowning a bath / cleans the room, someone constantly in the morning to cheer up. Of course, this is a very small sample, but the TNS study also provides very positive data on the share of listening to radio stations for 2015.
The main "pain" of radio stations is stereotypes (judging by the same comments). For example, people imagine broadcasting radio exclusively as a collection of constantly recurring songs, commercials, “stupid DJs and vulgar shows”.
In some cases this is the case, from the end of the nineties - the beginning of zero, such a format is present at many, including very high-ranking stations. But they work exclusively for the consumer - as long as there is feedback, there will be content.
Do not forget that with the development of FM in Russia, thousands of radio stations of various formats appeared: there are only music (including without advertising), there are conversational, there are educational, political, children's, adults, and even military. Perhaps those who scold the modern FM-radio, just have not yet found their radio station.
So bury the radio, or not?
Do not bury yet. All reports and ratings show that radio stations are slowly but surely losing their audience. This is a natural process that is influenced by many factors: growing up and aging of the audience, technical progress and the development of the Internet, as a result - the emergence of new sources of information, information overload.
The loss of an audience leads to a loss of funding, which leads to a drop in the quality of on-air content, which, in turn, scares the remaining audience. We can say that FM radio stations are terminally ill, but they will live until these factors finish the broadcast.
There is also a positive point: many radio station owners did not wait for the agony and began to "stir": they organized Internet broadcasting, built whole complexes with their community, photo-video content, went on the air and adjusted to progress.
Another part of these enthusiasts began to invent new formats in order to attract the audience: promotions, contests and reality shows, collaborations with famous brands, manufacturers and media.
Such attempts may eventually lead to the evolution of the radio format into something new, modern and appropriate to the needs of the target audience. In the meantime, it remains to enjoy the long but beautiful sunset of the era of FM broadcasting in the traditional sense.
PS What else do we write about:
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/370261/
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