Will mobile kill the radio star? It might, says Kantar Media

In a country composed of mostly visual audiences, radio continues to struggle to keep its listenership. And with the improved mobility of TV, that might just get more difficult.

 

Gabriel Buluran, General Manager of Kantar Media, a TV audience measurement provider, suggests harnessing the mobile, out-of-home audience before TV starts encroaching on the same demographic.

 

"We all know that the TV stations are going mobile. So bago pa sila dumating, i-protect mo na (yung audience mo)," he said in a media briefing in Tuesday.

 

The irony in radio's mobility

 

Despite the availability of radio in mobile devices—most mobile phones have built-in FM tuners—most radio listening still happens at home, a study by Kantar Media showed. 

 

"This is ironic because before gadgets came to be, the real mobile device was radio. The irony of it is that most listening still happens at home early in the morning or late in the evening," said Buluran.

 

About 2.5 million listeners tune in at home early morning, while an estimated 2 million tune in late at night, the peak hours of radio.

 

Furthermore, the most-used device in listening to the radio in Mega Manila is still the traditional radio unit with 52% of listeners in Mega Manila, while mobile phones only come second with 33%.

 

Harness out-of-home listeners before TV goes mobile

 

There is still the potential to tap into out-of-home listeners: some 300,000 Filipinos still listen at work, and 100,000 listen while in transit from 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM, said Buluran.

 

"At work mas puwede yung radio than TV. Around 300,000 listen to the radio during work hours," Buluran explained.

 

"We looked at the data of the MMDA, there's about 2.3 million that go through EDSA everyday. Eto almost sure ka na na hindi makakapag-TV ito," he said. The only option commuters have in tuning in is through mobile devices, one of which is radio, he added.

 

However, with TV going mobile, TV might also encroach this demographic.

 

"It's coming. Our clients for TV are really putting content on mobile," he said. "Wag mo nang antaying na i-encroach na naman ng dominant medium yung sa ngayon ikaw ang puwedeng umabot."

 

The study

 

Kantar Media partnered with the Radio Research Council - Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (RRC-KBP) in conducting the study entitled "Tuning in to Radio".

 

Placing far second to television, radio still reaches two to four million people across the country tuning in during radio's peak hours, according to the study. However, these figures are small compared to TV's reach during it's peak hours at noon and evening, with 8 million viewers reached from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM and a whopping 14 million viewers turning on their televisions from 6:00 PM to 11:00 PM.

 

They gathered 2013 data from 38,000 sample individuals from Mega Manila, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Bacolod, Dagupan, Cagayan de Oro, General Santos, and select areas around the Philippines, a press release said.

 

"Household members 10 years old and above were asked to record their radio listening information in an official monitoring sheet every 15 minutes throughout the day, regardless of where they are — in or out-of-home," the press release said.

 

The study showed that four million listeners tune in to radio in the morning from 6:00 AM to 10:00 AM, while two million listeners tune in late at night from 9:00 PM to about 11:00 PM. These are the peak hours of radio, which are incidentally the times when TV is "half asleep". 

 

These peaks are more pronounced in Mega Manila where listeners in the morning are close to three million, Buluran explained.

 

"In the morning, it's still the news updates that radio is known for. But what we've seen is in the past (is that) TV morning viewing was nonexistent, but now TV has encroached on radio's territory with their (morning shows). Medyo nakukuhanan pa ng audience doon ang radio, but still it has retained its listenership in the morning," Buluran said. — TJD, GMA News