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Business News Media
Digital Radio UK launches new campaign to big up DAB+
By Chris Cooke | Published on Wednesday 30 June 2021
Digital Radio UK – the organisation that promotes, well, digital radio, in the UK – has launched a new communications campaign to promote DAB+, mainly to encourage more consumers to get themselves devices that are compatible with the upgraded version of digital audio broadcasting.
As Digital Radio UK itself explains: “DAB+ is an upgraded version of the technology used to bring you DAB digital radio – it is more spectrum efficient than DAB, therefore enabling more radio stations to be broadcast within the same amount of capacity”.
There have been national DAB+ radio stations in the UK for more than five years now – only available on DAB+ devices – although this is the first time Digital Radio UK has run a campaign specifically promoting the benefits of the enhanced DAB technology, the main benefit being access to more stations.
The digital radio group says that its new campaign – which includes a radio ad that started airing on an assortment of stations earlier this week – “encourages listeners who are considering buying a new radio to upgrade to a DAB+ digital radio and to look for the ‘digital tick mark’ to ensure their new device will receive all the available DAB and DAB+ stations”.
It adds that recent consumer research it commissioned “indicates that despite the number of DAB+ stations now on-air, consumer awareness and understanding of DAB+ and its benefits is low”.
While the majority of digital radio sets currently on sale are DAB+ compatible, it’s estimated that “only 30-40% of DAB digital radios in homes will receive DAB+ stations, highlighting the need to communicate that there are now many stations available that can only be heard with a DAB+ compatible radio, or by listening online or on a smart speaker”.
Commenting on the new comms campaign, Digital Radio UK CEO Ford Ennals says: “DAB+ is playing an important role in the expansion of digital radio in the UK and with the number and quality of DAB+ stations higher than ever and increasing, now is an appropriate time to start raising listener awareness and understanding about the benefits of DAB+ to ensure they are not missing out”.
