How the digital landscape affected the radio industry

The digital revolution has caused shockwaves throughout every area of media.

While it might have created millions of jobs and broken-down traditional barriers that have existed for over a century in traditional media, there has been a net negative for newspapers, radio and, to a lesser but still noticeable extent, television. 

Where newspapers and television have been able to adjust somewhat to this landscape, offering digital services and branching into more modern-day forms of media like audio-specific or video-based podcasts or streaming, radio has struggled. However, it has been forced to change to stay relevant, which has created pockets of success and ingenuity. In this article, we discuss some of the other elements that have caused it to slip behind new media and examine if there is potential for it to claw back some of the ground it has lost.

Exploring consumer appetite

To fully understand how any service industry evolves, you must understand how consumer appetite has changed and morphed. If we turn the clock back 30 years, radio, TV and newspapers all dominated the media. They were the only three ways that people consumed their entertainment, kept informed about world events and kept up to date with their favourite sports. Metaphorically, the prism of consumer engagement went from this black-and-white, matter of fact and conventional setup to a digital-based, DIY, 24/7 version of the news — and it happened quickly.

It wasn’t just traditional media that took the brunt of this; industries ranging from healthcare to finance and even casino gaming have been completely transformed due to the adoption of the internet. In fact, casino gaming is probably the best example of how businesses embraced these digital changes and chose to work with them rather than against them. 

Playing blackjack or roulette in a casino went from a land-based event to something you could do from home on your PC or laptop, increasing convenience while maintaining security. The inability of many traditional media tycoons to completely understand that traditional media had to adapt, just as the casino industry did, is where many of the problems started to emerge.

Complex modern landscape

The rise of music streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music alongside video streaming sites like Netflix and YouTube has levelled the playing field in the battle between traditional and new digital media. YouTube is the second most popular website in the world, amassing billions of unique hits every day. It now directly competes with Spotify in terms of streaming music, audio and video.

Global battles like this have immensely impacted the radio industry, especially local radio in the UK. Within a quarter of a century, radio went from being the monolithic presence in all things audio entertainment to competing with multibillion-pound organisations. It was a fierce shift and switch in dynamic for a form of media that had most of its own way for most of the 20th century. 

Despite some radio shows making adjustments and utilising platforms like Spotify and YouTube to record their shows and broadcast them to a broader international audience, traditional radio, as we knew it before the internet, is a relic of yesteryear.

Does radio have a future?

Although the percentage of UK customers who listen to the radio has remained steady, comfortably in the tens of millions, the stiff competition that has emerged has hit many radio budgets where it hurts most — advertising. 

As we mentioned before, consumer appetite drives the bulk of all significant changes in any service industry. Radio is still a popular medium for news, sports, weather and entertainment for those over 50. 

Recent OFCOM figures show that over 85% of the UK population listens to the radio at least once a week. So, while the classic FM radio on the kitchen worktop or in the work van might have been replaced by digital alternatives, podcasts or Spotify playlists, there is still a considerable market for radio. Some of the highest-paid presenters in UK media are radio show presenters. 

While they might not have the same sort of notoriety or star appeal they had in the glory years of the 1990s, the digital landscape has paved the way for radio to get creative and eliminated traditional barriers for DIY entertainers to set up their own radio-style shows from home studios or makeshift podcast studios.

Summary

For all the doom-mongers who feared that the internet might be the end of traditional media, it hasn’t quite panned out that way. Sure, adjustments have been made, and there’s been a big hit, particularly in advertising, but radio continues to be popular among all demographics. As more radio stations begin to embrace streaming platforms and audio, it’s clearly not going anywhere anytime soon.