Public Youth Radio in Europe Executive summary June 2008 European Broadcasting Union Strategic Information Service (SIS) L’Ancienne-Route 17A CH-1218 Grand-Saconnex Switzerland Phone +41 (0) 22 717 21 11 Fax +41 (0)22 747 40 00 www.ebu.ch/en/sis European Broadcasting Union l Strategic Information Service Public Youth Radio in Europe Executive summary June 2008 Public Youth Radio in Europe 1 Executive summary Introduction The aim of this report is primarily to give an overview of EBU Members youth radio services, but also to describe the new media landscape, in which Members operate, by looking at sociological and economical trends important to the youth radio business; radio consumption trends, the digital music industry, Internet youth usage and new radio platforms. A quantitative analysis have been based on an internal EBU survey and covers channel formatting, programming output, targeting and distribution strategies of their youth channels. It is also looking at the competitive youth radio climate, the offer of interactive services and successful initiatives, platform consumption and key media changes effecting radio. In-depth case studies have been carried out in addition to the survey analysis to give a more detailed description of Members’ activities. Overview The media consumption among young people in Europe is shifting. Sociological trends and new technologies are increasing users’ flexibility and the way they consume media. The market is becoming more and more fragmented and radio content is no longer limited to traditional transmission means. The Internet boom has lead to fast pacing globalization of websites, and the new media landscape is becoming more personalized and diversified. New tools and techniques allow people to access digital content online and the user choice and online competition is greater than ever. Music portals are being launched, with digital music collections available through streaming, and online networks make it easier for users to build their own media content and share it with friends. Online communities like MySpace, Bebo and Facebook are making content deals with large media companies to be more attractive to younger users. According to some measurements about 80 per cent of the Internet traffic comprises illegal downloading on P2P networks. A large part of the downloaded content is music, which has created a crisis in the record industry. The music sector has been forced to adjust to the new media landscape and build new business models based on innovation, experimentation and diversity. New platforms and products are in focus to create new digital revenue streams. The increasing penetration of broadband, mobile phones and portable devices has driven the rollout of new digital music services and the great usage of portable media devices has created an ‘always on, anywhere’ music environment. Instant access and portability is becoming the norm1. In this open media society it is getting harder for companies to get the attention and time of consumers. 1 IFPI, IFPI Digital Music Report 2008, January 2008 EBU - Strategic Information Service 2 Public Youth Radio in Europe Executive summary Radio audiences The audience share for public broadcasters is decreasing year-by-year and trends from several European markets show that the total audience is getting smaller. People spend less time listening to radio than they did five years ago, however, the medium remains impactful with high reach and listening time. It is easier than ever for people to access music and niche content through the Internet and online radio consumption is increasing. There is an opportunity for Members to increase the distribution to new channels and become more multimedia focused, increasing flexibility for listeners. The table below shows the audience share development during the past six years (2001-2007) for Members’ generalist channels. The four quadrants picture the balance between the average audience share and the six year evolution. The red quadrant shows organisations which shares are declining, and compared to others are rather weak, while the green quadrant shows organisations with a positive development and relatively strong shares. Even though a number of Members show positive developments many can still be found in the red zone, meaning they have lower than average shares with a declining trend. Most common causes to these declines are competition from commercial, analogue channels, regulatory changes, funding issues as well as sociological changes in media consumption. Radio audience share evolution – national channels (2001-2007)2 15.0 Weaker share but growing Strong share and growing NRK 10.0 RTP LR SRG-SSR 5.0 RTBF ARD DR BBC RUV 0.0 SLO RAI NPO 0 102030405060708090RF ER YLE SR PR ORF -5.0 LRT RNE MR CR Share change 2001-2007 -10.0 RTÉ -15.0 SK/SR -20.0 VRT Weaker share and declining Strong share but declining -25.0 Source: EBU 2 a) For Austria, the figures include all 9 ORF Regional stations together, a network which covers the whole national territory b) Since the German market is almost entirely regional the total sum includes the 9 regional networks c) Norway: From May 2006 the method for measuring radio was changed from CATI to PPM for the national market. The market shares for 2006 above are for the period May-Dec 2006. The universe also changed from age 9+ to age 12+. EBU - Strategic Information Service Public Youth Radio in Europe 3 Executive summary For comparability, the chart depicts combined national radio shares only. Some countries, like the Netherlands, reach very large audiences through regional distribution. Youth radio listening Radio audiences are getting older and the market is becoming more competitive and fragmented. Music is the key driver of youth radio and due to the wide distribution and easy access of digital music it is hard for public youth channels to reach their target audience. Looking at the overall trend of radio listening in France the decline proves to be the greatest among youths. More than 18 per cent of the 15-24 year olds listen less to radio today than they did ten years ago. The same trend can be seen for all age groups except the 65 years or older. Combining the two youngest age groups gives a decline of almost 30 per cent, which is worrying as most public youth channels target listeners aged between 15 and 35. Youth audience decline - change in time spent listening in France (1996/97-2006/07) 5% 3.1% 0% 15-24 25-34 35-49 50-64 65+ -5% -4.9% -6.1% -10% -10.9% -15% -20% -18.4% 1996/97 vs 2006/07 Source: EBU based on Radio France The same trend can be seen in some of the Nordic countries, for example in Denmark where the listening among 12-29 year olds has declined with almost 40 per cent since the late Nineties. Online youth consumption The trend is reversed with regards to youth Internet usage. Young people spend more and more time online and the computer has become a natural part of their everyday life. It is used for practical reasons like bank transfers and search of information, but to a high extent for entertainment and media consumption. The table below shows the increasing online usage among young people in Europe. Youths spend on average 106 minutes online every day and the most popular web property is YouTube, owned by Google. EBU - Strategic Information Service 4 Public Youth Radio in Europe Executive summary Online usage among 15-24 year olds 116 112 108 Minutes 104 100 Mar'07 Avr'07 May'07 Jun'07 Jul'07 Aug'07 Sep'07 Oct'07 Nov'07 Dec'07 Jan'08 Average Minutes per Usage Day The high online consumption is driving the on-demand content market and podcasting and streaming is growing in popularity. Most radio channels today offer some kind of streaming and podcasting services but all content is far from being provided. Young people are used to find most online content, video or audio, either through legal or illegal downloading and the combination of free, flexible and always available seem to be important for the future of youth targeted content. In the past couple of years social networking and video sharing sites have rocketed and Internet has become an arena for social media. More than 75 per cent of all 15-24 year old Internet users in Europe visit interactive media sites every month, with audio and video being the main drivers. Data suggests that music sites attracts almost 60 per cent monthly reach and radio sites about 25 per cent. Reach of online categories – 15-24 year olds (Feb’08) 90.0 80.0 76.5 76.3 70.0 57.8 60.0 50.0 % Reach 40.0 30.0 24.8 20.0 10.0 0.0 Multimedia* Social Networking Music Radio * Multimedia - sites that contain video clips, audio clips or some other kind of interactive media such as shockwave/ flash etc. Source: EBU based on comScore EBU - Strategic Information Service Public Youth Radio in Europe 5 Executive summary Online radio services The Internet has opened up for a great choice of digital music and the spread of portable devices is driving consumers’ demand for music to an all-time high. Millions of tracks are available through major online services and over 500 legal and licensed music websites are registered globally. Recent research shows that music is the most popular form of entertainment, significantly out playing TV and cinema3. Users have a greater music choice than ever before and youth targeted radio channels, with music as the main audience driver, need a strong online presence to be available when, where and how users want. Many analogue radio channels have already launched streaming and podcasting services, along with hundreds of smaller online-only operators.