With listening trends shifting, radio stations are thinking towards the future.
This country is definitely in the age of ask. By the end of 2018, 1.35 million Australians had a smart speaker with voice activated assistant at home. That was a 200% rise in ownership in four months.
According to Versa’s The Voice Report (December 2018), Google Home leads in Australia, with devices present in 12% of homes and 7% of workplaces (brand awareness was a high 61%), followed by Amazon Echo in 2% of homes and 3% of workplaces (and brand awareness of Amazon Alexa at 28%).
At this stage, 64% of us use them to play music, 60% to check the weather, 49% to listen to the news and 39% for movies/TV. In the US, where streaming music is the most used for (41.9%), listening to radio is 4th most popular, at 25.5%.
According to trade association Commercial Radio Australia (CRA), 95% of Australians listen to radio each week and commercial radio is the most popular sector with 81% of listeners. We spend an average of 125 minutes a day tuning in, well above the global figure. Findings from the Infinite Dial Australia 2018 study by Edison Research show that one in five listen to radio using a mobile phone, computer or TV while at home.
But adoption of smart speakers for radio ran into problems. One, Aussies scowl about privacy. Two, multicultural Australia is a mix of accents, which confused the technology and led to wrong destinations. CRA’s chief executive Joan Warner revealed, “We discovered that there are 3,465 ways of asking for 318 stations, by name or by frequency.”
If overseas trends can be taken into account, the rapid growth of smart speakers in Australia can be expected through 2019 before tapering off. No surprise then, that CRA worked with Amazon and app developer All in Media (AIM) to solve the problem. From 23%, accuracy has now grown to nearly 100% reveals CRA.
In recent weeks, individual broadcasters and stations have implemented additional Alexa skills. Southern Cross Austereo (Hit, Triple M) has flash briefings for news, sports and entertainment updates, and DAB+ station Kinderling Kids Radio offers bedtime stories and quizzes. Nova FM has taken a full-scale step with a new interactive Amazon Alexa Skill, which allows listeners to explore the station live as well as a back-catalogue of podcasts and shows. Nova Entertainment also plans to launch a similar offering for Google Home products in the future. Smart speakers look like they could be an essential road to radio listening after all.
