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Media agencies see the acquisition of Grant Broadcasters by ARN as positive. The transaction will see the creation of a national radio broadcast network with 58 stations, 46 DAB+ stations, across 33 markets - a 8 million broadcast and digital audience. Insiders say the new ARN will give advertisers more scale, a better national advertising solution, reaching more than a third of Australian audio consumers in one transaction. And both ARN and Grant have given a commitment to a continuing flow of "live and local content" important in keeping the attention of local audiences.

Commercial Radio Australia Chief Executive Officer Joan Warner has said, “DAB+ audiences have grown as a result of broadcasters enhancing their digital radio formats and car manufacturers continuing to add DAB+ radios to their vehicle ranges. Broadcasters need to be a bit more strategic. We know that no mobile network can carry all of radio listening traffic live and local. If everybody tried to do all of their radio listening over a mobile network, the network would crash."

Consumers buying new cars cite radio as their No. 1 entertainment choice. The results of the Edison Research study were detailed by Tom Webster, the company’s senior vice president. “We did a survey of at least a thousand people [per country] in France, Italy, Germany, the U.K., the U.S. and Australia,” he said. “In all six countries, we looked at people who had either just bought a new car, a 2018 or newer, or were going to buy one in the next 12 months.” Webster added that weekly radio listenership across all six countries “is well over 80 percent.”

Commissioned by the Flemish government, the research agency Ipsos conducted a survey for the fourth year in a row among 2,000 Flemings (12+) about the state of affairs of DAB+ and digital radio in general. The full PDF of the fourth wave of the Ipsos study is available to download here.

Multiplex Color DAB+ is a joint project of JOE Media, Ultravox and Dada Media. The multiplex, on Channel 7C, is currently in test mode and this state should last until about December. It can thus be expected that the operator will change individual technical parameters, such as data flows, security, etc.

In Flanders, about 41% of the total radio listening volume is now digital, 19% listens via DAB+. This is apparent from the latest figures of the research into digital listening, carried out by research agency Ipsos on behalf of the Flemish Government. The growth is also reflected in the in-car listening. Last year, 26% of the in-car listening volume was digital, in 2021 this will increase to 34%. Thanks to the new EECC (European Electronic Communications Code) legislation that came into effect from January this year, every new car sold now includes a DAB+ radio

A new DAB+ multiplex with 15 private radio programmes is now on air in Saarland. “We are very pleased that a new chapter in radio history has opened in Saarland and that the diversity of information and opinions related to Saarland has found its way into digital radio” said Ruth Meyer, Director of LMS.

With immediate effect, advertisers can use the new DAB+ 'Display AD' to extend their campaigns directly to the screens of DAB-enabled radios. Klarmobil is one of the first customers. In the first phase of regular marketing, all five ABSOLUT radio stations are included. At the start of the second commercial DAB+ multiplex in Germany in October 2020, Antenne Deutschland and Ströer founded ad.audio, the national advertising marketer for digital audio.

To drive DAB+ receiver sales in Europe, the radio industry has to educate consumer and retail sales staff more effectively. How to do that and more were addressed during Session 2 of the WorldDAB Summit 2021 on Nov. 9. (Recordings of the sessions are on the WorldDAB YouTube page.)

In recent years, Flemish media companies have focused on digital radio and DAB+. “We notice that digital listening is gaining momentum,” says VRT radio manager Els Van de Sijpe. “A richer offer on DAB+ can further strengthen this growth. We have received a massive amount of enthusiastic reactions, proof that we really respond to the needs of our listeners. We can further expand this new VRT offer after the successful start.”