Presentation by the Radio Independents Group proposing an online marketplace for the sale of UK radio programmes to broadcasters, made at the Broadcast Video Expo in London on 14 February 2012, written by Mike Hally, Daniel Nathan and Grant Goddard.

1. A ‘PRX’ for the UK?
A scheme to improve the sales of audio from
producers to broadcasters
Broadcast Video Expo, London
14 February 2012

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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 1990’s
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

5. 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

6. 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

7. Radio/audio usage remains ubiquitous
Volume of listening (hrs/day) to all audio
5
3.8
3.7
3.6
3.7 3.7
4.4
3.9
3.9
3.5 3.7
3.8
3.8
Female 25-34
15-18
4.0
4.1 4.2
4.1
Female 15-18
3.6
3.6 3.7
Women
4 3.8
4.0
3.4 3.3
3.6
3
2
1
Source: BBC Share of Ear survey, 2009
Female 65+
Female 55-64
Female 45-54
Female 35-44
Female 15-24
Male 65+
Male 55-64
Male 45-54
Male 35-44
Male 25-34
Male 15-24
Male 15-18
65+
55-64
45-54
35-44
25-34
15-24
Men
Total
0

8. Live radio no longer the only ‘radio’
Source of audio usage (%) by age group
100
6
4
5
20
75
38
2
4
3
14
12
81
82
85
82
35-44
45-54
55-64
65+
16
7
11
34
Almost half of 15-18
year olds’ consumption
of audio is not live radio
50
76
25
55
60
0
15-18
live radio
15-24
non-radio
25-34
catch-up radio
Source: BBC Share of Ear survey, 2009
podcasts
unclassified radio

9. 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’ radio’s ‘share of ear’ is increasingly and seamlessly
blended with more personally directed ‘audio’ entertainment –
much of it streamed or downloaded via IP

10. 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

11. 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...

12. 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

13. 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...

14. 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

15. ‘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)

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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 BBC’s 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

20. 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