After the closure of Newshub and select programmes at TVNZ, all eyes are looking at content for consumption, advertising and marketing in other forms of media. One industry that continues to thrive is the audio space.
6.30am, that’s when I tune in to the radio. It is usually on my drive to the gym when I listen to Mai FM’s ‘Mai Morning Crew’.
Lewis Tennant, AUT lecturer and host of the Verbal Highs podcast, describes it perfectly: radio continues to be popular because it is “habitual, easy to access and have on everywhere”.
Listening to the Mai Morning Crew is part of my daily routine. And while the station changes, most of Aotearoa’s population share the same habit.
Alistair Jamison, CEO of the Radio Broadcasters Association (RBA), says New Zealanders’ radio listening figures over the past few years have been “boringly stable”.
Every quarter, the RBA releases the independent Gfk survey, which gauges what’s happening in radioland. Results consistently show 74 to 75% of Kiwis listen in.
Auckland’s (horrific) traffic and popular broadcasting personalities contribute to our loyal listenership, but it’s not the whole story. Whether you need a diversion on your hour-long commute, or a you’re big fan of Mike Hosking, radio offers an intimacy and sense of community that other media can’t match.
And while your car’s multi-speaker set-up is a world away from tinny transistor radio of decades ago, “the relationship between the listener and the personality has probably not changed that much in 50 years”, Jamison says.
Over the airwaves, listeners can get to know the Jesse Mulligans and Toni Streets on a deeper level than TV can provide.
The challenge of diversifying to digital was part of the mix that saw Newshub and select TVNZ shows close, so all eyes are looking to see how the audio space will fare as the media environment changes.
Jamison isn’t worried. He says audio is already deeply embedded within the digital sphere.
“We are still subject to all of the pressures of digital transformation. But I think the audio space has been able to navigate that a bit differently.
“If you look at radio since it started and the way they’ve operated and created content, it has been about personalities, it’s been about the people and is not production heavy. So, it is very easy for that to naturally migrate into social channels,” he adds.
And it’s not just social channels that audio has adopted easily.
Both NZME’s and MediaWorks’ large body of radio work is now available on podcast platforms such as rova, iHeartRadio, and Spotify – so listeners can tune in whenever, and broadcasters can build an audience outside the set timeslot.
“We are offering consumers options. We’re offering an option of listening live, picking it up later when it suits them or a summary version. You’ve got lots of options. It’s all about connecting back to the brand and to experience the relationship you as an individual have with it, which makes it a lot stickier,” says Jamison.
Consumption habits have changed and media on demand is now an expectation around the world, adds Tennant.
Big radio media players are stepping up to the digital plate.
Richie Culph, MediaWorks’ Head of Digital Audio, says the business is making the switch to meet “multi-modal consumption” and retain audiences.
“As audiences move to more digital consumption, having a strong digital platform should be a priority for broadcasters. This enables maximum understanding of users for personalised experiences and ad-targeting. Owning and developing our own digital platform specifically for the NZ market is a key strategy for MediaWorks’ continued digital success,” explains Culph.
“Broadcasters can no longer rely on a few big ‘pipes’ [radio frequency licences]. We must create new digital IP that is viable for the long term. Podcasts offer great opportunities in this space.”
The shift has resulted in Duncan Garner – Editor in Chief: Live, a new daily live show broadcast that’s expected to reach five to 10 times more ears than a standard podcast.
“While our inflection point is yet to really hit in NZ, I believe radio in NZ will be more resilient to change as we operate on a more cost efficient and dynamic model that is easier to adapt,” says Culph.
“Radio has always been a very personal, high-trust medium and we see this as people turn to it with events like the flooding in Hawke’s Bay in 2023. Podcasting garners even deeper trust, as audiences are making conscious choices to listen to specific content.”
NZME shares this sentiment, seeing “remarkable growth” in digital audio and podcasting.
Jason Winstanley, NZME’s Chief Audio Officer, says the broadcaster has seen a 23% growth in digital audio and 54% increase in podcast revenue in the past year.
This is thanks to changing consumer behaviour, which NZME is meeting by providing diverse and on-the-go content.
“It’s been incredibly challenging to see our industry colleagues go through these closures and changes. What we have seen through this, in the face of the media landscape’s shifts and challenges, is the resilience of radio in New Zealand,” he says.
“Together, radio, digital audio and podcasting form a robust platform for information and entertainment, and strong opportunities for advertisers.”
But the move to digital doesn’t mean one medium is being favoured over the other. Rather, Winstanley says NZME is using the strengths of both mediums to grow the audio space.
Meanwhile media company Stuff, which doesn’t specialise in audio, is disrupting the landscape. Tennant
says rather than relying solely on big personalities to build relationships with listeners, Stuff Group has been using the medium to showcase investigative work from its larger newsrooms.
Laura Heathcote, Head of Audio at Stuff, says adding audio allows the business to become a “multimedia one-stop-shop for audiences” when it comes to news and investigations.
Knowing that Kiwis are already big podcast listeners, Stuff is keen to feed its audio-hungry audiences and has birthed a range of investigative work including The Lake and The Commune – along with its first subscriber series, The Lost Boy. Bite-sized content, such as Tova and the award-winning Newsable, covers more topical subjects.
Named Best New Audio Product at the INMA Global Media Awards, Stuff’s Newsable is tailored for 25 to 40-year-olds, blending hard news, human interest stories and pop culture titbits.
“We set out to deliver important and relevant news – but in a podcast format that younger, often news-avoidant audiences would love,” says Heathcote.
“Newsable’s success is a fabulous example of how Stuff Audio differentiates itself from the market.”
But it’s not just about the big media players. Tennant says independents like The Morning Shift, are disruptors, taking the daily morning radio format into podcast form and taking up a large amount of the audio market.
For the smaller shows, Tennant says the success and popularity of The Morning Shift can be seen as a big opportunity in realising the power of podcasting.
“It’s about directly connecting with someone, making a podcast about a topic that totally relates to that goods or service provider’s audience or market,” says Tennant.
“You know that everyone in the audience wants your products because that’s why they’re listening. It’s very different to trying to advertise to everyone on TV or radio when your podcast is more niche.”
There’s no doubt that the audio landscape is changing, and “blurring between mediums” seems to be why it’s thriving.
As for my usual 6.30am listen in the car, I’ll stick to hearing Mai FM’s Morning Crew ‘live’, safe in the knowledge I can catch up with the podcast if I’ve got a day off.
This was first published in the 2024 June-July NZ Marketing Magazine issue. Subscribe here.
