Local radio needs to take the fight to the BBC

by Colin Grimshaw Media Week 28-May-08, 07:30

A report from Enders Analysis suggests that regional media stands at the edge of a cliff and predicts that regional press advertising will fall from £2.7bn in 2007 to £2.3bn by 2012.

Profit warnings from Daily Mail and General Trust's Northcliffe regional division and Johnston Press have added to the pervasive gloom. Enders contends that, rather than being cyclical in nature, the current weakness reflects a permanent shift of revenue away from regional publishers to myriad, new, online competitors. Publishers may be growing online traffic and revenue on their own websites, but this can never replace the exodus of advertising from their print titles.

And the fight for local ad revenue is about to become fiercer as radio companies enter the online classified space. Bauer Radio has already launched a local recruitment service online and GCap, which earns three-quarters of its profit from regional stations, will launch an online job board on its welovelocal portal in September.

Of course local radio has difficulties of its own - the first quarter Rajar figures showed that local commercial's share of audience is now down to 30.3%, and the better-resourced BBC is making hay.

While commercial stations are forced to cut back, the BBC is investing in more "hyper-local" content including online video and, according to reports, plans to hire 300 journalists.

Unable to match this investment, commercial radio is taking a different tack and is beefing up its local stations' schedules with networked national content. Global is believed to be preparing to lift its Heart brand and some of its content and put it into the centre of these schedules.

Might this make regional stations seem less relevant to local audiences, compared to their BBC rivals?

The BBC may seem like a playground bully and it's easy for commercial radio to scream unfair and blame its ills on the bloated, licence-fee funded Beeb. But, it is the job of the commercial sector to raise standards to match the BBC's and win back customers. That means adopting sound local strategies, and then investing in them.

With most of the radio sector now in private hands, investment for long-term gain may be easier. Messrs Bauer and Tabor need to get their wallets out and think local.