The radio goes to the front

Finally, we are entitled to a true portrait of the new radio landscape! A study unveiled on Monday that I read with undisguised pleasure paints a fair picture of an industry that is going through great upheaval.

Conducted at the request of RAI (the equivalent of Radio-Canada in Italy), the study is based on data from several countries. A version adapted to the North American and Quebec reality was prepared by Pôle Médias HEC Montréal. It is titled Radio’s new clothes.

“Radio is going through exactly what television went through 20 years ago,” said Sylvain Lafrance, director of Pôle Médias HEC who, with his colleague Louise Hélène Paquette, is one of the authors of the study. “It faces a multi-competition that has developed at lightning speed. »

From the outset, the authors say that what we still call “radio” has been replaced by an audio ecosystem that multiplies the codes and means of dissemination. Phone, computer, tablet, car, television, smart speaker… This audio universe reaches us in various ways.

Do you still have a good “old radio” at home? It seems that this object is endangered. The car (new infotainment center) remains the number one place to listen to the radio.

But in 2021, the phone and the computer respectively took over the 2^e and the 3^e place means that allow us to have access to the audio. The classic radio device now occupies 4^e position.

More devices means more accessibility. More accessibility means more listening. In 2024, Canadians will spend 45 minutes more listening per day to radio or audio content than in 2012.

The podcast revolution

Rest assured, traditional radio as it has been conceived for nearly a century remains the queen of live. And the cash cow for network owners, even as ad revenue continues to decline. Eighty-six percent of Canadians still listen to AM/FM radio on a weekly basis.

It should be noted, however, that a quarter of these people are audinauts (followers of streaming), a category of listeners seduced by the phenomenon of the podcast. “There are no longer any barriers in the audio world,” says Sylvain Lafrance. A newspaper that launches a podcast does not need to go before the CRTC,” he adds, citing the example of the New York Times and of The Press.

Today, most radio stations isolate and broadcast segments of their shows on various platforms. Some web radios even design their content around this. QUB radio is the best Quebec example of this phenomenon.

When we see personalities like Denis Lévesque, Marie-Claude Barrette or Winston McQuade bypassing the industry by producing filmed podcasts that they offer on various platforms, we can clearly see that this avenue is largely democratizing the industry.

But beware, the number of podcast productions has experienced a certain “shrinkage”. Some big players have slowed down. After all, there are only 24 hours in a day, the study notes.

The Rise of the Audiobook

The other observable phenomenon is the meteoric rise of audio books. While the global market size for these products was valued at 7.1 billion (CAN) in 2022, it is expected to maintain an average annual growth rate of 26.3% between 2023 and 2030.

Clearly, listeners are looking for the sound of voices and content that stands out from the rest. Sylvain Lafrance and Louise Hélène Paquette had the idea of ​​communicating the data from this study when they read the column in which I wrote that personalized radio stations with spoken content bring in more than those based on musical content and humorous animation.

The study obviously focuses on the demographic aspect of this industry. You won’t be surprised to learn that young people don’t consume audio in the same way as their elders. They have a bigger appetite (19 minutes longer than 25+). This is due to their habit of turning to various platforms to shop online, visit social networks and indulge in video games.

Listeners, especially young people, enjoy listening to music. But beware, they increasingly like to do it with “curators”, specialists who will guide them, as do ICI Musique or the music channels of the BBC or Radio-France.

A danger to our culture

An important segment of the study focuses on the dematerialization of music and the havoc it causes for artists. Music streaming services had 524 million followers globally at the end of 2021. In the United States, 65% paid to listen to music.

But the killer number is this: 89% of revenues go to digital download or streaming platforms. In short, only the most popular artists evolving in a large pool of population manage to live well off the royalties offered to them.

In such a context, how can a Quebec artist hope to make a living from his art? This is where the study addresses the danger that threatens our cultural identity. How do you keep alive a language that is in decline inside and outside Quebec when American content will play the sirens?

The study identifies a host of strategies adopted by large networks, private or public, to adapt to this new reality. For some, it is necessary to reinvigorate the regional presence, for others, this involves seducing young audiences or using visual radio.

“There will always be room for traditional radio, as is the case with TV, thinks Sylvain Lafrance. But in the long term, there will be a fragmentation of listening. In the place of the leaders, I would be nervous, but I would tell myself that I have to move. »

The last pages of the study multiply the words “develop, recruit, rethink, innovate”. It is through innovation that radio will experience its own revolution. And it is by becoming pioneers again that its leaders will lead it to the front. That’s kind of what the study tells us.

“Radio does not die, it transforms”, write the authors.

Indeed, while the voice seemed to be in decline, it is experiencing a kind of rebirth. Still surprising (and reassuring) to discover this. In the era of technologies that tend to isolate us more and more, we need more than ever to hear voices coming from… these technologies.

This proves that human beings will always have this inexplicable need to listen to their peers, no matter what.