markettiers4dc blog - The Cast

The RAJARs are here

nospam@example.com (Jeremy Gibson) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 10:00:23 +0100

The quarterly RAJAR figures have been released for Q2 2008, and in the latest round of the ratings battle the BBC have taken a slight dip. Chris Moyles and breakfast godfather Wogan both lost listeners. BBC local stations also lost share in the last quarter with BBC Solent, Jersey, Three Counties and Kent amongst a long list of those reporting woes.

Conversely commercial radio stations achieved a great set of results. In London Neil Fox’s breakfast took the sought after top spot for Magic's breakfast show. Elsewhere Island FM and The Bee posted impressive share increases.

Overall the picture for radio is good, and digital continues to notch up total share of listenership, up a tiny 0.1% in the last quarter. The number of people listening on mobile phone is up by 3.3%, the biggest quarterly jump to date.

With the likes of Kiss 100 announcing content will be available on the new iPhone, this is set to continue. But I’m confused, surely listening to a show on a 3g mobile makes me an online listener?

Radio – Big on news, but keep it local.

nospam@example.com (Jeremy Gibson) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:58:21 +0100

In the forthcoming issue of our newsletter Onward (coming in the next few weeks, sign up here for a free copy) we feature an article about the power of research and how a local bias will help gain extensive radio coverage.

Our thinking is backed up by Radio Centre’s latest survey which has some pretty impressive statistics about the impact of radio news.

On average, local radio stations transmit 20 news bulletins of around 3 minutes each day. 69% of all radio news bulletins contain local news stories. What’s more 93% of stations are transmitting content live online.

To give you an idea of sheer scale of the opportunity the survey reminds us that 347 UK Commercial Radio stations attract a weekly audience of 31 million adults, who listen for over 424 million hours each week. That’s about half of the total UK population.

Download a pdf of the full survey here.

What digital divide? It’s a class war.

nospam@example.com (Jeremy Gibson) — Fri, 23 May 2008 11:50:15 +0100

The much-feared gap between urban and rural broadband take up was finally laid to rest by Ofcom today. The BBC and Metro report that 59% of rural households are connected to broadband compared to 57% of their urban neighbours. Sunderland came out as the most connected town, while Glasgow came bottom. Interestingly, Ofcom suggested ‘Glasgow's position probably reflected low levels of household income and computer ownership’ which goes to show that broadband has still to be fully adopted by the C2s and Ds of society. You can see the full executive summary of the report on the ofcom site

What this article does suggest to me, is that convergent technologies are now becoming the norm, and while rapid adoption is still limited to younger, more economically mobile consumers society as a whole is starting catch up.

Ofcom now puts the figure of ‘Engaged (20%)’ and ‘Pragmatists (30%)’, that’s 50% of the UK population moving in the right direction, as the cost of entry falls, the rate of adoption can only increase.

Missing the point?

nospam@example.com (Nik Harta) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 14:58:00 +0000

Google has attributed a slow down in growth for the fourth quarter of 2007 to the difficulty of making advertising work on social networks. The search company has reported a 17% increase in profits, but says that it has seen a drop in the "paid clicks".

It has reported revenue of $4.83bn (£2.43bn) for the quarter to December 31, which is a 51% increase on the same quarter in 2006 and a 14% increase on the previous quarter.

Google says a revision in the company's formula for showing advertising clicks led to the reduction in revenue.

The search company's founder Sergey Brin says: "We had a challenge in Q4 with social networking inventory as a whole. I don't think we have the killer best way to advertise on social networks."

The company says it has been the reducing the clickable area around its ads to decrease the number of accidental clicks and increase effectiveness for marketers.

Google paid MySpace owner News Corp $900m (£452m) in 2006 for the right to deliver ads to the networking site's 70 million-plus users.

Surely Google have learnt that those people who use social networks don't want to be bombarded with adverts? Consumer backlash against instrusive advertising (think only of Facebook's Beacon) will not change so the approach of those seeking to commercialise has to, let alone those who allow advertising on their sites. Ultimately it's the marketers who need to take responsibility to find new ways to engage with their audience.

The Queen on YouTube

nospam@example.com (Nik Harta) — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 10:06:42 +0000

The Queen's decision to launch her own channel on YouTube has sparked all sorts of debate however while I am a traditionalist I am of the belief that it is demonstrating another positive step to make the monarchy relevant to a new generation without in any sense undermining the institution.

The Queen was swift to grasp the importance of television when her Christmas message was televised for the first time 50 years ago and once again she is embracing popular culture.

Today it is no longer quite the fixture it was - but Her Majesty has risen to the challenge. Last year, her Christmas message was, for the first time, issued as a podcast while this year it will be carried on the internet. The aim, says Buckingham Palace, is to make the message "more accessible to younger people and those in other countries".

With eight grandchildren ranging in age from 30 years to just one week, the Queen is no stranger to the ways of the young (she does, after all, text). What could be more natural than to decide, at the age of 81, to deliver your message through the medium they actually use?

Iceberg ship media team ‘learn lesson’ from crisis

nospam@example.com (Nik Harta) — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 08:14:38 +0000

The PR agency behind the Antarctic cruise ship sunk by an iceberg last month has warned PROs to ensure their clients are media trained for any crisis situation.

‘Even if you do not think you will have a crisis, make sure your most senior person in every country is media trained,’ warned Mulberry Marcoms CEO Chris Klopper.

Klopper said the Explorer accident had been a ‘lesson’ for him and the account team working for travel client G.A.P Adventures. He said he was relieved that UK sales and marketing director John Warner had been taught to deal with the media, after the ship’s disaster and passenger evacuation sparked a worldwide press frenzy over the weekend.

‘We put John on every TV and radio station, and he was able to calm and reassure,’ said Klopper.
The account team at Mulberry worked all Friday and throughout the weekend. It handled a 24-hour press office, dealing with international media and with foreign offices and embassies trying to track down passengers.

Klopper also told how he used a coincidence as positive PR leverage during the crisis. ‘A Danish guy proposed to his girlfriend in a lifeboat,’ he said. ‘This was like manna from heaven and, with the couple’s knowledge, we then majored on this to give a positive twist to the whole rescue management story.’

Mulberry will now work with G.A.P Adventures to ¬rebuild its reputation and prevent travellers who have booked trips from cancelling.

While the crisis was handled well there are a couple of additional lessons that should be taken from this episode. First is to ensure clients also have a plan of action in readiness of any potential crisis. Secondly it should have been highlighted that the travel company had commendably ensured that their website was also well managed with daily updates and contact points for press and friends and relatives of passengers. However, as part of the process to rebuild the company’s reputation it’s worth considering interviewing (video) the passengers who were involved to see them talk about their experiences and how G.A.P Adventures handled the whole incident.

Certainly a company living up to its name although this may not be one for the brochure!

The power of using a WebTV interview

nospam@example.com (Howard Kosky) — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 11:36:37 +0100

The second announcement in a fortnight from Mattel for the recall of toys due to safety concerns has had to create global awareness of the problems instantly while trying to avoid mass panic amongst their consumers. In addition to taking out full page ads in the national press Mattel also took the opportunity to video their Chairman & CEO Bob Eckert making an impassioned statement on behalf of the company.

If anyone had any doubts about the increasing use and value of video through the Web than this is another fine example of how a brand can communicate to the media and its audience simultaneously. With an anticipated 18.5m products recalled globally (2m in the UK alone), the need for a swift response from Mattel has been essential to avoid long term damage to the company’s reputation. Showing the compassion of Eckert, a like-minded concerned parent, through the video shows an individual who is prepared to face up to errors and explain how they are overcoming them. The video personalises the issues and looks to build empathy and trust with the viewer. The footage from the Mattel website has subsequently been featured on traditional TV news bulletins such as the ITV news at 22.30. By their swift response and acknowledging the benefit of the Internet to deliver their message in a personal and timely fashion, Mattel may live to fight, or play, another day.

The customer is always right

nospam@example.com (Nik Harta) — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 10:37:10 +0100

Using the Internet to watch TV programming is now pretty much everyday practise for almost all broadband users and we anticipate we'll be using it even more and more to watch video online as demand increases even further. In one new release it has been stated that Broadband subscriptions across the globe will surpass 536m by 2011, and DSL will account for half the market. The research forecasts that broadband service revenues will exceed £74bn in 2011. In a separate piece of news from Which? it has been revealed that despite internet service providers promising broadband speeds of up to 8Mbps, the average download speed is 2.7Mbps. The consumer magazine found that the lowest speed was just below 0.09Mbps and the highest was 6.7Mbps.

So now that we are watching more TV on the web the appetite to replicate the TV broadcast standard online is growing. Watching webTV is already an excellent experience if you have a good broadband connection - just try any of the on-demand shows that we've produced ourselves at www.webchats.tv to see what I mean, but we still strive to replicate that TV experience whereby the minute you push the on button, or change channel, the picture is there, and there is not even a second's 'buffering'. With the accelerating growth in rich media isn't it about time the service providers lived up to the definition of their title by upping their game to provide broadband of a high and consistent quality while proving they value their customers through improved service levels? The customer is always right, even online.

BBC iPlayer goes live

nospam@example.com (Nik Harta) — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 14:35:33 +0100

Today has seen the launch of BBC's on-demand TV service, BBC iPlayer which lets you download a wide range of BBC television programmes for free from the last seven days.

The programmes you choose to download are stored in your BBC iPlayer Library on your computer for up to 30 days (once you download the iPlayer). You then have up to seven days to watch them. Once you download them you don't have to be on the internet to watch them when it suits you.

The viewer is now taking control as they start to dictate what they watch and when they watch it.