The Chief Executive of Britain's digital radio industry trade organisation has hit back at critics of DAB radio's technology and audio quality, claiming that the time is currently not right for a mass market roll-out of DAB+ or WiMAX technology in the UK.
Tony Moretta, CEO of the UK's Digital Radio Development Bureau, is adamant that "there is a big future for broadcast radio," and dismissive of any perceived threat to digital radio from the growth of internet radio.
"Internet radio listening has grown over the last twelve months from 1.9 per cent to 2 per cent of total listening. What is PC and broadband penetration? Around sixty per cent of UK homes? Compare that with current DAB penetration rates of around thirty per cent of UK homes, yet DAB makes up 12 per cent of total listening. Six times more than internet radio. People like listening to broadcast radio."
The DRDB boss is not totally dismissive of the possibilities opening up from internet radio, praising Pure's 'Connected Radio' strategy and noting that "the great thing about DAB combined with Wi-Fi is the fact that it offers that 'return path' for listeners."
The bottom line, for Moretta, is that broadcasting will always make sound commercial sense. "Some things are just always going to make sense to be transmitted as a broadcast platform, because it is a lot more economic for everybody – for the ISPs, for the broadcasters and so on – in a one-to-many way.
"This message of "10,000 radio stations at your fingertips" is also a total red herring, because as our research has shown, radio listeners are not promiscuous with their listening. They do not want to be listening to twenty or more different radio stations. It is a gimmick. Unless you are an ex-pat and want to listen in to your favourite stations from home, or whatever.
The key here, for the DRDB, is "that 'glance-ability' – you want to be able to glance at something, press a button and then consume it or listen to it again later at your leisure."
WiMAX and DAB+
Discussing the technical limitations of developing in-car internet radio, Moretta is also keen to stress that a nationwide roll-out of WiMAX technology is a long way off.
"The problem with WiMAX is that you need to build a completely new national network. It is a cellular network, so the sort of numbers of sites needed are not TV and radio site numbers, they are mobile phone sites. So it requires a massive, multi-billion pound investment. Who is going to make that investment now? Typically, you would imagine it would be the telcos that would make it, but they are concentrated on making more and more use of their 3G networks aren't they?"
Some recent critics of the UK's digital radio industry have pointed out that the technically superior DAB+ technology is being introduced in other countries, such as Australia, whereas the focus in the UK is still squarely on DAB.
"DAB+ is a complete red herring at the moment," says Moretta. "It is not particularly a different technology. It is like with anything, if you bought a PC eight years ago and you buy a PC now, you are not going to buy the same technology as you had back then."
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mandyg
April 14th
2. To take issue with a few of DPomic's comments:
1. Rajar figures are not being misquoted and misunderstood. DAB listening is, indeed, six times internet listening for LIVE listening - which is what Rajar reports.
Under Three significant points:
1. It is true that the Rajar sampliing is intended to record live only. And it is also true that a separate survey indicates that the number of people who EVER use listen again and EVER use listen live via the internet is roughly equal to Live listening. However, this not a measure of how much time people spend doing these activities.
2. Suggesting that of the unspecified digital and platform listening, Internet is "arguable more than pro-rata" is purely speculation with absolutely no proof to back it up.
4. All the genres of stations that he suggests are not represented by Rajar are in fact covered in the "other listening" category. They account for about 2% of ALL live radio hours.
5. Not true - ex-UK stations are covered via the "other" category.
6. Not true - Internet-only stations are, again, covered in the "other" category.
7. His "very large point" is, again, entirely speculative. There is absolutely nothing to suggest that people with a DAB/FM radio don't listen to DAB.
Finally, dpomic's assertion that "Internet is certainly growing much more rapidly than DAB" is based on.....nothing more than speculation It's a statement with no data whatsoever to back it up. Unlike DAB, which has the weight of RAJAR - the industry's recognised currency - behind it.
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dpomic
April 14th
1. DAB listening is not 5-6x Internet radio listening in the UK. RAJAR figures are being misquoted and misunderstood.
Three significant points:
1. The sampling is intended to record live only. Separately, RAJAR estimates other Internet listening—Listen Again, Podcasts, and Personalized Radio (Last.fm, Pandora, Slacker, Spotify. etc.)—is equal to Listen Live.
2. About 2% is unspecified digital, plus about 13% is unspecified platform—some of both are Internet, arguably more than pro rata, since less specified in the diaries.
3. The sampling has a statistical accuracy, which is less for the smaller digital listening percentages.
Three larger points:
4. The reported results are for subscriber stations (~60 BBC + ~280 RadioCentre = ~340)—not including smaller commercial (~100), community, student, and hospital (~300); or pirate (~100).
5. They don’t include listening to ex-UK stations.
6. They don’t include Internet-only—UK (~200) and globally.
And, one very large point:
7. The DAB digital platform (~11%) is listening on DAB radios. Most DAB radios include FM. So “DAB platform” includes listening to FM broadcasts. Considering the limited DAB-only programming, DAB reception problems, and DAB sound quality deficiencies, FM listening on DAB radios could be more than DAB listening on DAB radios! [RAJAR/About RAJAR/Online Learning/Illustration of the Diary: http://www.rajar.co.uk/docs/about/RAJAR_diary_example_page.pdf.]
Total Internet streaming listening may exceed actual total DAB broadcast listening now. And, Internet is certainly growing much more rapidly than DAB. Mobile phones streaming Internet radio is now overwhelming compared to DAB.
From the listeners’ side, FM and Internet work quite well together—from any place to any place, at any time. There is no need for DAB with only limited selection, local broadcast, live-only programming—at most a small portion of the 300-350 RAJAR stations—to special receivers. And, listeners will win.
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