Digital Transition More A Dance Than A Race

Michael Hedges February 5, 2015 Follow on Twitter

An easy path to digital transition for the media world somehow got lost in the fog. The road has been littered with great ideas that collapsed from fatigue of one kind or another. To those leading the march patience is not a virtue. Others take it all in stride.

Swiss radio measurement institute Mediapulse faced strong criticism on the release of second half 2014 audience estimates. Scheduled for release January 20th the report appeared February 4th; hence, late. "We invented the watch," newcomers to the country are told. "If you are late, you will have pain."

After that, Swiss radio broadcasters took the results in stride. It is, after all, winter. And Mediapulse researchers managed to contain the simulcasting issue to the satisfaction of most. The radio watch technology, it seems, didn't discriminate very well between stations that simulcast programs during previous survey periods. Some broadcasters had criticized the Mediapulse crew for a tardy response to the issue.

Mediapulse publicly releases top-line radio audience estimates twice a year for the country's three linguistic regions. Total reach in each of the regions was lower. Listening in the Swiss-German speaking region continued to slide lower, 87.6% from 88.5% year on year. Listening levels in the French-speaking region were also lower; 83.9% from 84.3%. And, too, listening in the Italian-speaking region was down to 87.8% from 88.5%.

The radio channels of public broadcaster SSR-SRG are regionally separate but available nationwide along with three digital channels. Aggregate market share for the Swiss-German part of public broadcaster SRG-SSR - the SRF stations - dropped to 58.7% from 59.1%. Top rated main general interest channel SFR1 dropped to 31.1% market share, lowest in more than a decade, from 31.7% year on year. Youth-oriented contemporary music channel SFR3, number two in the Swiss-German speaking region, was also lower to 17.1% market share from 17.5%. (See updated Swiss-German regional audience estimates chart here)

In the French-speaking region, public radio channels on aggregate were up slightly to 56.8% market share. Main general interest channel La Premiere was up, 37.8% from 37.3%, And adult-contemporary music channel Option Musique, number 2 in the region, was up to 9.7% market share from 9.0%. Alternative music channel Couleur 3 was lower, 6.9% market share from 7.5%. (See updated Swiss-French region audience estimates chart here)

Rete Uno, the main general interest channel of Swiss-Italian regional broadcaster RSI, took a terrific tumble to 43.0% market share from 44.7% one year on. Rete Tre and Rete Due were also lower. (See updated Swiss-Italian region audience estimates chart here)

While the market shares for the big regional public radio channels were rather squishy the SSR-SRG digital channels seem to be the not-so-secret weapon. The Swiss public broadcaster has invested considerably in DAB and DAB+ technologies. In the Swiss-German region folk music channel SFR Musikwelle was dumped from AM/MW a few years ago and relegated to DAB. Its market share has risen to 6.1% from 5.4% year on year.

Several years ago the SSR-SRG developed three specialty radio channels - Swiss Pop, Swiss Classic and Swiss Jazz - to be distributed nationwide, originally by satellite and then DAB. Swiss Pop posted 2.5% market share in Swiss-German region, up year on year from 1.8%, 2.5% market share in the French region, up from 2.1%, and 2.6% market share in the Swiss-Italian region, up from 2.1%. These are all-music, no-talk channels simulcast nationwide.

The aggregate market share of SSR-SRG channels not part of a specific regional network rose in the Swiss-German region to 6.2% from 5.1% year on year, 13.1% market share in the Swiss-Italian region from 11.5% and effectively unchanged in the French-speaking region at 9.9% aggregate market share. At the same time cross-border stations - such as Radio Seefunk, Antenne Voralberg and Radio Regenbogen, all from Germany - were up slightly on aggregate to 5.0% market share from 4.6% in the Swiss-German region, down slightly in the French-speaking region - with venerable French competitors NRJ and Nostalgie - 9.9% market share. Italian station Radio LatteMiele and others contributed to an aggregate cross-border market share of 6.9% in the Swiss-Italian region, down from 7.9% year on year.

Private sector radio broadcasters in Switzerland have had a tough time competing with SSR-SRG channels, benefitting from the most generous household license fee in Europe. In the Swiss-German region aggregate market share for private-sector radio stations dropped to 30.2% from 31.2% year on year, increased slightly in the French-speaking region to 24.2% and jumped to 14.9% in the Swiss-Italian region from 12.5%. Being larger - and richer - the Swiss-German speaking region has a lot of stations in Zürich, Basel, Bern and points in between - not to forget the attention of Zürich-based media buyers. Zürich station Radio 24 is top rated in the region with 2.6% market share, down from 3.0% one year on. In the Swiss-French region hit music station One FM bounced back to a 3.0% market share from 2.2% year on year. The big BIG winner for private stations was in the Swiss-Italian region as Radio 3i romped to a record 9.5% market share from 8.1%.

The radio landscape in Switzerland is changing, glaciers notwithstanding. And, digital platforms may, inevitably, make the difference as private sector broadcasters access regional DAB+ multiplexes without the constraints of FM coverage. Listeners, however, will continue tuning-in to stations and channels they like.

See also in ftmKnowledge

Europe's Radio - Western Europe

Opportunity meets tradition in Western Europe's radio broadcasting. Change has come fast and yet oh, so slowly. This ftm Knowledge file contains material and resources on public and private radio broadcasting in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands and Switzerland. 156 pages. Resources. PDF (December 2011)

Order here

Digital Radio - Possibilities and Probabilities

Digital radio has many platforms. From broadcast platforms to internet radio and rapidly emerging smartphone platforms, listeners and broadcasters have choices galore and decisions to make. Some regulators have made up their minds, others not, some hedging their bets. This ftm Knowledge file details the possibilities for digital broadcasting and the probabilities for success. Includes Resources 149 pages PDF (August 2012)

Order here