Why Radio Cannot Keep Up With Gen Z
It would be wrong to say that radio has died out completely. However, if something does not change drastically then future generations may not be able to relate to it as much. The same can be said of radio. These days, it is mostly millennials and members of Gen X who listen to the radio. This is because older generations have a sentimental attachment to it. However, Gen Z is more interested in convenience, and having no such nostalgic memories with radio, they are turning to streaming apps.
When it comes to Gen Z, they have had access to streaming services such as YouTube and Spotify for years. In fact, they had it since they were old enough to use electronic devices. The BBC, one of the world’s premier radio services, indicated that its listenership fell about 40% in 15 to 24 year-olds. The significant plummet in numbers is largely due to streaming, which has increased from 10% to 33% within this age group. Moreover, the growth of radio listenership has remained stagnant in the past few years, showing that new people are not tuning in. According to Ad Age, there has actually been a 0.5–1 percent decline in the hours people spend on the radio. These statistics seem to demonstrate the slow extinction of the radio.
Radio Hasn’t Suffered The Most
When it comes to music, radio has not seen the brunt of the change. Sales of CDs have declined worldwide as they are no longer used to listening to music. In a world where your favorite songs are a click away, who would go through the trouble of buying CDs and CD players and carrying them around?. Moreover, AI devices such as Alexa also come with radio features. As more homes make use of such technology, the more accessible radio will become for them. For instance, Alexa may allow you to tune into your favorite radio station with a voice command. This may seem to brighten things for radio now. However, there is a caveat here. These speakers and AI assistants only play radio stations available online, so broadcasters must make sure they are accessible through the internet.
Streaming Is More Attractive
There are numerous reasons why Gen Z is opting for streaming:
1. They can listen to songs they want to on repeat, a luxury that radios do not provide.
2. Advertisements on streaming services are less frequent. Moreover, if you buy a premium subscription, you can avoid these altogether.
3. Due to advanced filtering techniques, streaming services can customize their suggestions to suit your music taste. So if you listen to soft rock on YouTube, soon similar songs will pop up in your suggestions.
4. Streaming services allow Gen Z-ers to search for songs on demand. If they have a lyric stuck in their head, they can type it in and get the whole song.
Record Labels Are Turning Away Too
One of the many challenges radio faces is from record labels. According to an article in Variety, record labels are more eager to give rights to streaming services rather than radio broadcasters. This is because of the increasing number of people who use Spotify, Pandora, and other similar apps. As a consequence, music labels make more money where more people listen to them. Radio is no longer the trendsetter when it comes to songs. In fact, the songs you hear on the radio are determined using statistics about what Gen Z is listening to on these apps.
What Challenges Can Radio Face In The Future?
One of the unique things about radio was that there were RJ-hosted shows on it. These shows were interactive and lively. People would tune in to listen to their favorite hosts. In addition to this, live RJ shows were a place of great information. The conversation RJs had with guests were often scintillating. If Gen Z was just turning to stream to listen to music, at least radios would still be used for its unique shows.
However, streaming giants are slowly entering this arena. In 2019, Spotify spent millions of dollars to acquire two major podcasting companies. Spotify has more than 200 million active users. Additionally, 20% of its users were listening to non-music content. This means that the special shows that radio was famous for are now available on Spotify too. Moreover, streaming services record these shows in a methodical manner, so you can catch up if you miss out. With radio, if it’s gone it is gone.
A Silver Lining For Radio?
However, it is not all bad news for radio. Radio broadcasters are now looking to mimic some features of streaming apps. This makes radio more accessible to the younger generation. Now there are aggregator apps such as TuneIn and Radioplayer that can be downloaded on phones and other smart devices. These apps bring you all your favorite radio stations in one place. According to a survey by Radio Joint Audience Research (RAJAR), in 2018 in the UK alone, 28 million people had installed radio apps on their smart devices. Young people below 24 constituted about 1/6th of the people who downloaded such apps.
These new apps are combining the feature of radio shows we love, which are live shows, with listener autonomy. So most of these apps let you skip songs if you do not want to hear them. You can easily choose to listen to the live broadcast, the news, discussion, etc. This means you will not be bored with the content you do not want. Moreover, now these apps also include live streams, so you can see your favorite RJs live in action.
This shows that all hope is not lost for radio when it comes to Gen Z. It is true that currently, millennials and Gen X constitute the majority of radio listeners. However, if radio continues to become more readily available to Gen Z, soon it could have loyal fans in this generation as well.
