A PRX for the UK?

A scheme to improve the sales of audio from producers to broadcasters

Broadcast Video Expo, London 14 February 2012

Mike Hally Chair, Radio Independents Group, the trade body for independent radio production companies Independent radio producer & company owner since 2001 Panellists: Daniel Nathan Festival Productions, producer of syndicated new music radio, ad campaigns, drama & documentaries since 1990 Juice 107.2, radio made in Brighton since 1998 totallyradio.com, pioneering internet radio since 2000 Grant Goddard Media analyst, radio specialist Author of 2010 report on independent radio production sector commissioned by BBC Trust

Indie Radio Production

Creative industries increasingly important to UK plc An established multi-million pound UK creative industry Approx 150 active companies, across the UK Thousands of staff and freelancers

Sector Value
BBC BBC Radio spends 638 million p/a (BBC Annual Report 10/11) Circa 18 million spent in indie sector (<3% of total budget) 6% to 8% of total network broadcast hours are indie produced Commericial RIG members report 31% of total income is non-BBC Total value of indie sector circa 26 million per annum

RIG History
Formed in 2004, won back programme rights for indies in 2005 Not-for-profit trade body (company limited by guarantee) 100+ member companies across the UK Directors drawn from and elected by member companies Voice for the sector, negotiating with broadcasters Communicates with Government, Ofcom & Parliament Various member services including standard legal contracts Patron of Radio Academy

Heritage
Began with supply to commercial radio BBC began commissioning in the early 1990s Quality now recognised by audience, critics & major awards Over 20% of Sony Award Golds won by indies in recent years well above our share of programme output

Production
BBC All radio networks Commercial Radio - podcasts - audio books - corporate audio - general digital media International Many countries outside the UK have taken UK indie radio programming

Genres
Music Drama Features Daily strands Weekly strands Events Current Affairs History Sport Science Spiritual Comedy Readings

RIG Member Objectives

Creative Innovation Break new creative ground Thrive on and respond to media change Best and most cost effective radio & related content possible

Growth Use full current capacity whilst offering great scalability Establish new commercial markets for creative expertise Fully meritocratic access to UK radio schedules

Radio/audio usage remains ubiquitous

Volume of listening (hrs/day) to all audio
5 4 3.8 4.0 3.6 3.6 3.7 4.0 3.8 4.1 3.6 3.7 3.7 3.7 4.1 4.2 4.4 3.9 3.9 3.5 3.7 3.8 3.4 3.3 3.8 3.6

0 15-18 15-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 Total 65+ Male 65+ Female 15-18 Female 15-24 Female 25-34 Female 35-44 Female 45-54 Female 55-64 Female 65+ Male 15-18 Male 15-24 Male 25-34 Male 35-44 Male 45-54 Male 55-64 Women Men

Source: BBC Share of Ear survey, 2009

Live radio no longer the only radio

Source of audio usage (%) by age group
100 6 5 4 20 75 38 34 2 16 4 14 3 12 7 11

Almost half of 15-18 year olds consumption of audio is not live radio
50 76 25 55 60 81 82 85 82

0 15-18 live radio 15-24 non-radio 25-34 35-44 45-54 podcasts 55-64 65+ catch-up radio unclassified radio

Source: BBC Share of Ear survey, 2009

Radio is revolutionised by the internet

The internet transforms the nature of information people interact with media, and each other, in new ways Traditional print and broadcast media are profoundly changed or disrupted - long established business models are smashed Linear broadcast radio is now supplemented by disaggregation of music, news, features, ads etc and then re-aggregation with listen on-demand / catch-up / listen-again, podcasts, time-shifting etc Tabletop, portable or in-car radio receivers are supplemented by mobile phones, tablet computers, connected TVs, PCs and games consoles Broadcast radios share of ear is increasingly and seamlessly blended with more personally directed audio entertainment much of it streamed or downloaded via IP

Radio works whatever else you do!

Radio is a secondary medium - you can do other stuff while you listen. An enduring strength in an age of multi-tasking and permanent connection via social networks, e-mail and telecommunications Radio/audio is ideally suited to IP delivery, even on a poor or degraded connection (minimal bandwidth, minimal caching or permanent storage) Not surprisingly, an increasing proportion of this radio / audio consumption is beyond broadcast - particularly among younger demographics

A revolution in radio production

The tools to make radio are cheaper and easier to use than ever Dozens of easy-to-use online applications exist to produce and then host online audio content Local radio and niche community of interest programmes are available globally Web sites & blogs feature groundbreaking non-broadcast radio Established brands newspapers, magazines, food, fashion, academic institutions and individual performing artists are producing audio & video podcasts There are new entrants / plural voices and innovation all around and the broadcast barrier to entry is falling away, but...

Consumer discovery of radio

All this radio / audio has to be: Made available on different media platforms Made playable on an extensive range of consumer devices that use a variety of operating systems Searchable (using accurate metadata) Click-and-play for instant consumption Aggregated for a consumer offering of sufficient scale

What content ?
UK independent radio production sector started in 1992 Possibly 70,000 hours of content to date Most commissioned by the BBC for UK broadcast once or twice Archive presently gathering dust on shelves and hard drives Lost secondary revenue opportunities for producers Archive unavailable to potential audiences Current independent radio productions include Gardeners Question Time R4, Weekend Wogan R2, Jazz on 3 for R3...

What solution ?
Make this radio production discoverable encourage producers to create and align their metadata to make content findable online, building on best practice Open up a viable marketplace growth in the discovery of and listening to IP-delivered radio will lead to increased revenue flows across the value chain A hosting / distribution solution that could be a UK / RIG version of the American PRX model

PRX in the US
Public Radio Exchange is an online marketplace for distribution, review, and licensing of public radio programming. PRX is also a growing social network and community of listeners, producers, and stations collaborating to reshape public radio.

PRX statistics
Launched in 2003 Hosts 50,000 audio pieces from 2,000 radio producers Paid $1m+ to radio producers from sales 43% of audio has been licensed at least once 100,000+ public users 3m+ downloads of its Public Radio Player app since 2008 (offering users 500 stations + 1,000 on-demand programmes)

Proposal for a UK model

An online marketplace for listening, distribution, review and licensing of independently produced UK radio The creation of an online radio platform that aggregates UK radio from beyond BBC and commercial radio in-house productions The creation of a business-to-consumer platform enabling the free consumption of this radio through search and metadata and personalised radio stations The creation of a business-to-business platform enabling radio stations to purchase full productions or programme elements (interviews, features etc) for broadcast and offering seamless endto-end transaction and rights processing Developing consumer applications and APIs that enable listening across multiple platforms and devices The creation of online interfaces for public engagement, discussion and participation around radio listening and production

Objective: secondary revenues

UK independent television production sector: 1,356m primary UK commissions 590m international programme sales

UK independent radio production sector: 20m primary UK commissions <1m international programme sales

Source: PACT (2010), Grant Goddard (2010), DCMS Creative Industries Mapping

Objective: consumer usage

Unlock a vast archive of UK independent radio productions, much of which has a timeless value (eg drama and documentary) Unlock content previously broadcast on BBC radio, though not part of the BBCs own archive of in-house productions Create an online destination for consumers to listen to and review all independently produced UK radio Making this radio production discoverable Put independently produced UK productions into the online space and global market

Next steps
Identify suitable partners that can provide: Technology licensing Audio hosting Bandwidth Developer resources Transaction software Radio production (beyond RIG members) Marketing expertise

Create consortium