Gotta Get Yourself Connected
Graham looks at how the rise of digital audio is taking us to audience targeting utopia!
As I was pounding the streets of Newcastle as a teen, listening to my Sony Walkman blare out recordings of as many of the latest greatest indie tracks as I could squeeze onto a TDK90 cassette, little did I know (or could even imagine!) that just a few years later I’d be carrying my WHOLE music collection on a device about a quarter of the size of my Walkman… that was actually a phone and a camera and a pocket computer as well!
Photo by Florian Schmetz on Unsplash
It’s these kind of game-changing leaps in technology that can rapidly and dramatically change an industry… as they have with the music industry.
And now new technology is completely reshaping the radio industry too.
I’m talking about connected devices – the smartphones, smart speakers, laptops and tablets we log in through to listen to the radio.
RAJAR has just reported record high audience figures for connected devices.
For commercial radio, logged in listening via apps and online now accounts for a THIRD of all commercial radio hours. It’s overtaken analogue AM/FM listening and can just about still see them in its rear view mirror!
It’s no surprise when you think about how connected we now are on a daily basis:
Over 60% of UK homes now have at least one smart speaker and it’s estimated that a third of all cars have Apple/Android Car Play facility. And that’s before we consider listening directly through your smartphone via apps.
These numbers, and their consistently significant growth, are one of the reasons why the government has just launched a review of the radio/audio industry to look at, among other things, establishing a date in the near future for the analogue radio ‘switch off’ where AM and FM will be sent to the great antenna in the sky!
But what does all this ‘connection’ mean for your radio ADVERTISING though?
Well, the most exciting thing from an advertiser’s perspective is the major enhancement to audience targeting that being connected gives you.
You can now talk to your intended audience and ONLY your intended audience, with NO wastage whatsoever.
And I’m not just talking about data points like age, sex and location – many of the digital platforms can now go a LOT deeper than that.
Working with data management partners, digital platforms can now plan sophisticated campaigns that do all of the above and also hone in on data in your industry showing in-market consumers and those soon coming into market.
So, let’s say you’re a motor retailer… you can ringfence the postcodes you want to reach around each of your dealerships, choose females in their 20s and 30s, then overlay with listeners who are known to be coming to the end of their current finance agreements and those already searching for new cars. You’ve got something to offer them and they’re all ears, bingo!
And this is just the beginning…
I’m positive there’ll soon be even more exciting leaps that haven’t even been fathomed yet (cue my Walkman analogy) as the offering continues to grow and innovate.
The future looks very exciting for audio advertising as we all get connected!
Want to find out more about digital audio and how it could work for you?
We’d love to chat, just get in touch.
Source: RAJAR / Radiocentre reports 2026