UK set to be first country in which more than half of ad spend goes digital

More than 50% of £15.7bn advertiser spend will go on digital and online media in 2015 beating print, cinema, buses, billboards, TV and radio combined


The UK is predicted to become the first country in the world where more than half of all advertising spend goes to digital media – thanks to a national obsession with gadgets, social media and online shopping.

Group M, the worldwide media buying arm of the market services company WPP, has forecast that the total UK ad market will hit £15.7bn in 2015. Within this online spend is forecast to grow 12.7% year-on-year to break the £8bn mark, making the UK the first in which more than £1 in every £2 of ad spend will go on digital media.

The next closest countries likely to reach the milestone are Sweden (47% of total ad spend will be digital), Denmark (43%), Australia (42%) and Norway (40%).

Next year more money will be spent on internet advertising than in traditional media such as newspapers, magazines, TV, cinema, radio, and billboards, posters and buses combined.

Adam Smith, futures director at Group M, said that Britons are gadget-obsessed and advertisers follow such media usage.

“The British are the most enthusiastic online shoppers in the world in terms of spend per head,” he said. “And there has always been a high level of credit and debit card use [online]. On top of that Britons have rapidly embraced smartphone and tablet use, all of which has fuelled where advertisers spend their money.”

According to Group M paid search advertising will grow to £4.2bn, with about 29% of that on mobile devices, most of which is hoovered up by Google, which has more than 90% share of the UK market.

The fastest-growing part of the internet market is display advertising, which is forecast to surge 20% next year to £2.7bn, with 39% of that mobile display advertising.

Facebook is a huge beneficiary of display ad spend, with eMarketer forecasting that the UK operation will make more than £720m next year.

“Display has been the main source of UK digital ad growth since 2013, and we [see] this lead growing wider in 2015,” said Group M’s Smith. “The longer-term question is whether online will wrest [display] investment from network TV with the ease it did from print. This is a fairer fight.”

Group M is forecasting that more than £160m in print advertising will be lost from the UK newspaper market next year.

National newspaper advertising is predicted to decline 8.3% to £908m next year, and £80m year-on-year fall.

Regional newspapers are expected to see a 9.1% fall in print ad revenues to £820m, a fall of £82m year-on-year.

Smith said that the best-case scenario is that newspaper brands are able to make up about 20% of the lost print advertising money from growing digital revenues.

“We estimate that 10% of newsbrand revenue is digital in 2014,” said Smith. “Advertiser demand for online display is rising strongly. Video, social and mobile are the main drivers. Newsbrands must therefore align with these as best they can.”

DW launches radio series on Ebola for West Africa

Starting November 19, DW launches a radio series on Ebola for listeners in Africa, initially in English, followed by four regional languages.

 Producers of DW's Ebola radio series

The eight-part series focuses on the most burning questions, myths and fears surrounding the deadly virus.

"Over 5,200 dead, 14,000 infected and new cases appearing in Mali indicate that we can by no means start to relax," says Claus Stäcker, head of DW's Africa Department. "Although there are now various information campaigns, ignorance about Ebola is still widespread. This is fertile ground for rumors, uncertainty and fear."

The series, which targets listeners in West Africa, begins with a kind of "on-air research." The audience listens-in as two African journalists share their own experiences, news agencies' reports, scientific articles or social media discussions, and look for conclusive answers to pressing questions.

"It was important to us not to present ourselves as Western know-it-alls," says Stäcker. In the new format, Africans communicate with Africans. "This allows survivors of the Ebola outbreaks in Gulu, Uganda in 2000 to talk about their experiences in an effort to help the West Africans." It also makes it easier to touch on especially sensitive topics, such as burial customs, rituals in dealing with the dead bodies, hygiene and sexuality.

The current eight-part Ebola special, funded by the Federal Foreign Office, will initially be broadcast in English, followed by French, Hausa, Kiswahili and Portuguese. It can be heard primarily by listeners in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Mali and neighboring states via shortwave, FM and mobile devices.

DW's radio programming reaches more than 40 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition to shortwave broadcasts, the programs in Amharic, English, French, Hausa, Kiswahili and Portuguese are re-broadcast by 250 partner stations. DW has over 650,000 Facebook fans in Africa.

Slacker Expands To Toyota And Lexus

The new Slacker Radio app is available now to owners of select Lexus models and coming soon to select Toyotas from model years 2011 to 2015. Slacker will be added as part of an update for select Toyota Entune and Lexus Enform App Suites. The new app adds deeper functionality and access to the Slacker Radio service, giving Toyota and Lexus owners the ability to create uniquely personalized radio stations, and tune into hundreds of curated radio stations (including comedy and programming from ESPN and ABC News).

BMW ConnectedDrive Brings Spotify Into the Car

BMW and Mini drivers can now get music streaming service Spotify in their vehicles.

Starting now, when Spotify users on iOS, both free and premium, download the app from the Apple App Store, the app will be compatible with BMWs equipped with the BMW Apps option.

BMW has certified the Spotify app for safe in-car use. After connecting their smartphone to the car and launching the app, users are presented with its various functions via the iDrive Controller/Mini Controller, the Control Display/Mini Centre Instrument and the car’s audio system.

The end of an era - BBC Relay Station site handed back to Seychelles

(Seychelles News Agency) - Tuesday November 18 marked the closure of an iconic chapter of Seychelles’ history, signalling the end of an era when information was much more difficult to come by. With much of Africa joining the internet and mobile phone revolution, the times of trying to glean information about happenings in the rest of the world on a crackly AM radio station have now passed by.

Over 25 years after its establishment, the site of the BBC’s former Indian Ocean Relay Station (IORS), located at Grand Anse, on the western side of the largest inhabited island in the archipelago, was handed back to the government of Seychelles by the country’s British High Commissioner, Lindsay Skoll.

The station transmitted BBC World Service programmes since 1988 via shortwave to listeners across East Africa in a range of languages, including the BBC's English-language output for Africa as well as programmes in Swahili, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Somali and French.

In November 2013, the BBC announced its intention to cease all its shortwave transmission services from Seychelles due to a gradual and irreversible fall in demand for shortwave radio services, and on March 29 this year, the BBC IORS retransmission services from Seychelles were officially switched off. BBC World Service broadcasts in East Africa are still available via the internet and also via various other localised frequencies.

BBC continues to switch off local radio AM transmitters

 

UK.BBC Local Radio stations in Lancashire, Humberside, Wiltshire, Devon and Surrey & Sussex are each losing at least one of their AM transmitters in December.

In a new trial to save money, three of the stations are now broadcasting a message asking listeners to re tune to FM or DAB instead.

“The BBC is required to make savings and one potential way to do this, and maintain value for money, is to switch off medium wave transmitters in those places where FM or digital radio coverage is also available,” the corporation said today.

In the first phase, BBC Radio Lancashire’s medium wave 1557 KHz transmitter will be switched off from 1st to 5th December, but with no DAB multiplex in the area, the only retune option is FM.
At BBC Surrey, all medium wave listening is affected. Listeners can re-tune to 104.6 FM in west Surrey and 104.0 FM in east Surrey or DAB.

And at BBC Sussex, listeners can re-tune to 95.3 FM in Brighton and Worthing, 95.1 FM in Horsham, 104.5 FM in East Sussex, Haywards Heath and Burgess Hill, and 104.8 FM in the remainder of West Sussex. BBC Sussex is also available on digital radio along the Sussex coast.

Then in the 2nd phase, BBC Radio Humberside and BBC Radio Wiltshire will switch off all medium wave transmitters from 8th December to 12th December. A recorded message will start on November 24th.

BBC Radio Humberside listeners can re-tune to 95.9 FM or DAB, whilst listeners in Wiltshire can re-tune to 103.6 in Swindon, 104.9 in Marlborough, 104.3 in Chippenham and West Wiltshire, and 103.5 in Salisbury and South Wiltshire or DAB.

At BBC Radio Devon, only Torbay medium wave (1458kHz) affected. Most listeners can re-tune to 104.3 or 103.4 FM, although listeners nearer Exeter might find 95.8 FM or 990 medium-wave are better alternatives. 990kHz Exeter has a significant coverage overlap with 1458kHz Torbay. BBC Radio Devon is also available on digital radio.

A BBC spokesperson told RadioToday: “Some BBC local radio stations will not be on medium wave frequency for the next three weeks while we carry out trials to assess the impact of reducing transmissions using medium wave. You can still hear your favourite station on FM, Digital Radio and Online. The stations will be back on medium wave after three weeks.”

Christmas FM goes live on November 29th from Dublin

Festive charity station Christmas FM is getting ready to launch on November 29th at midday for another month-long broadcast.

The station, which raised over €80k last year for the AWARE charity, is this year hoping to raise money for Age Action. Centra are to sponsor the station for the second year in a row.

Christmas FM is once again based in Ballsbridge Hotel in Dublin, had a number of volunteer presenters and could be heard on FM in most major towns and cities around Ireland.

It’ll be on nine FM frequencies, along with the online and smartphone feeds. Christmas FM operates on FM annually using a 30-day temporary radio licence issued by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. During the 30-day FM licence, Christmas FM operates a live programme schedule from 7am to midnight each day.

Christmas FM Frequencies from November 29th:

Dublin – 94.3 FM

Kildare – 88.1 FM

North Wicklow – 99.5 FM

Cork City – 106.7 FM

Galway City – 89.5 FM

Limerick City – 105.5 FM

South East – 103.8 FM

North East – 101.6 FM

North Midlands – 99.4 FM