Ford Ennals, chief executive, Digital Radio UK [FE]
Q: Doubts persist over this particular digital standard [DAB], don’t they? Let’s just go through some. First of all: that it’s a stop-gap and that we’d all be better off with internet radio, which will become possible in cars and all over the place, and that there will really be no need for DAB at all.
FE: Well, look, what is certain is that the future of radio in the UK, and right across Europe, is digital. And what that’s going to bring is more choice, more competition, and more innovation …
Q: [interrupts] But your particular ‘digital’ is DAB digital, isn’t it …
FE: [interrupts] Well, no. It’s …
Q: … and there are other technologies available?
FE: No, not at all. We’re here to support and promote the transition to digital radio in all its forms, whether it be online, whether it be on TV, or whether it be DAB. DAB is one of those platforms. But, what we do see is great certainty that DAB is, if you like, the broadcast transmission backbone of radio, not just in the UK, but in Europe. There are 40% of all your listeners this morning listen to this programme, are listening on a DAB radio. And, I think, the simple fact is that, if they were all listening online, it couldn’t be supported and the internet would crash. So, right now, IP, as you call it, or online, just isn’t the right technology. It can’t sustain broadcast transmission of radio, and it’s not cost-effective, and it isn’t an option in the short or medium term.
Q: [incredulous] 40% of our listeners are listening on digital? Does that include listeners in cars, because I don’t know a single person who has got a digital radio in their car, I don’t think?
FE: Well, I think you have highlighted the real opportunity here. Car manufacturers have been slow to put digital radios in cars but, since the passage of the Digital Economy Act and the launch of the Digital Radio Action Programme [sic], they’ve now committed to having all new cars with digital radios in by 2013, and we’ve started to see Ford and Vauxhall and Mini putting them in. And I think that’s very important because …
Q: [interrupts] The ‘40%.’ Sorry, though. The ‘40%’ figure – did that include people in cars?
FE: Yes, urm. The 40% does include people in cars …
Q: Really?
FE: … and the targets that government have set also includes people in cars. So, what government is saying is, and I think supported by industry, is that we want to see 50% of listening to a digital platform, including DAB, before we take a firm decision about a switchover date.
Q: Mmm. Last quarter, digital listening was actually down, wasn’t it? It sort of implies that the message isn’t getting through.
FE: Well, actually, as I said, 40% of listeners are listening on digital. That’s over 20 million people every week listening to digital. This year, we’ve seen it grow by 20%. So, typically, what we see is growth in the first half-year, it slows down in the second half, and then steps up again in the second half [sic]. So, actually, quarter-on-quarter, we’ve seen moderate growth, but 20% growth year-on-year, and we’re looking for a major step at the beginning of next year. And, what I would say to people, if you’re buying a radio for a present this Christmas, make sure it’s a digital radio.
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Dear ‘Today’
I was shocked to hear Ford Ennals, chief executive of lobby group Digital Radio UK, proclaim on your programme that:
“there are 40% of all your listeners this morning listen to this programme, are listening on a DAB radio.”
This statement is not merely an exaggeration, it is wholly untrue. The radio industry’s audience data (produced by RAJAR, published by Ofcom for Q1 2010) show that 27% of listening to Radio 4 is via all digital platforms, which include digital television, the internet … and DAB. See graph below.
In-car listening accounts for 19% of total radio usage, but this proportion is likely to be considerably higher during the morning commute period. Because DAB radios are installed in less than 1% of cars, it is probable that much, much less than 27% of listening to the ‘Today’ programme is via DAB.
Ford Ennals’ untruthful statement is only the latest in a long line of disinformation perpetuated by commercial forces that will gain financially from DAB take-up, and which are designed to mislead the public into buying DAB radios.
Yours
Grant Goddard
1 comment:
Don't know if you heard it, but it was covered again on Radio 4 this morning:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9222000/9222914.stm
What it summarised was that if you take the TOTAL REACH of ALL people listening to any of radio 4 for any length of time on any set across a week, it could be possibly as high as 30% have listened to something on a DAB radio across that week.
But Ford Ennals clearly stated that "40% of all your listeners THIS MORNING listening to THIS programme, are listening on a DAB radio".
Even if you take a very optimistic figure, it's just possible that 25% of people listening were listening on DAB at that point.
This wasn't a slight nudging of the figures, or "a couple of percent out", this was a total fabrication. What we would call "a lie".
Time this sort of thing stopped. Trading standards, anyone?
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