Posted 09/23/2009 - 9:46am by Julia M
Terrestrial radio has gone through a lot of upheaval in the last two years as revenues from advertising have fallen precipitously. Meanwhile, online and mobile radio offerings have increased the level of competition for listeners. After a few years of focusing heavily on HD radio, terrestrial stations have received some good news. First, Microsoft announced its new Zune HD music player, with HD radio built in.
Second, Apple followed up with a new iPod Nano with a built-in FM tuner. Typically, Apple went even further with its radio features. It added a pause and rewind feature (similar to a TV DVR, but without the ability to record). The Nano also has an RDS display, allowing users to instantly see artist and title, as well as the ability to tag songs for future purchase.
The Radio Research division of Vision Critical Group, a global research firm, has done a study of the impact of the new radio tuner built in to the iPod Nano. Vision Critical asked their panel of 1185 American adults to rate the new features. Here are the percentages that said they were, “Very Interested” in each one:
|
|
A 18+
|
A 18-34
|
|
Pause & Rewind
|
47%
|
66%
|
|
Display Artist
& Title
|
41%
|
55%
|
|
Tagging Songs
|
28%
|
45%
|
Vision Critical conducted similar surveys in the UK and Canada, with similar results. Interestingly, 50% of the UK respondents said that their mobile phones come equipped with FM tuners, but only 4% use them to listen to the radio.
To read the full "Tech Trends" for the week of 9/21/09, click here.
