Virgin Radio: Virgin reaches out with digital

the network attracts 4.2 million listeners a month - far more than a
station that's only on FM in the South East might expect.

Cridland is responsible for virginradio.co.uk, which claimed 1.3 million
listeners in March; more than the BBC receives for any of its own web
radio services. And Cridland says 18 per cent of Virgin's UK audience
listen online at least once a month.

There are two reasons for Virgin's digital success: online radio usage
has soared, particularly at work, and, apparently, Virgin Radio does it
better than anyone, helped by Cridland whose list of credits include
being probably the first radio DJ to give out an email address. It was
1993, he was at Bradford's local station, The Pulse, and the address
reads something like Pi.

But, times have moved on, so much so that Virgin's new online radio
player, relaunched this month, includes the ability to email the show's
presenter as one of its most basic options. It also offers better
listening quality, quick links to a chatroom, a 'request a song' feature
and fast access to the Virgin site. As its online player is often
listeners' major interaction with the Virgin Radio brand, doing it well
is crucial.

"The problem we have had is that we broadcast our music on medium-wave
nationwide, so any other way that we can get our station to those
audiences is going to sound better for them," explains Cridland. "If we
can get our signal to as many people as possible in crystal clear sound,
that's hugely important for us. If we make sure enough people trial us
(online) first and learn what Virgin Radio is all about, they will tune
in longer and tolerate what medium-wave has to offer. Trial is very
important."

Desktop listeners

But, internet radio is now so popular that many listeners use the online
player for much more than trial. Radio players sit on users' desktops,
allowing them to listen all day at work. This phenomenon enables Virgin
to reach a whole new crowd more often, but means the new player has to
offer more. "(The old player) is fine as long as you've come in via our
site, but there are actually loads of places that link directly to it,
so it's the first experience people have with our brand - sometimes the
only experience - so it is important that we communicate more through
the player," Cridland says.

"Even if you've come through our site, you'll probably use that page for
doing other things, so it's important that we can pull people back to
our site as much as possible and keep people interacting. If they
interact with us, our figures say 80 per cent of them will listen longer
to Virgin Radio as a result," he adds. "So, we need to make sure we make
interaction simple."

Online is a godsend where success depends on keeping more people
listening longer. However, Cridland and his team are keen to exploit any
new technology and the station's list of digital firsts is impressive
(see box). "One of the things that we've always tried to do is to be
first in a lot of new technology," he says. "Because of our audience
being male and very excited about new things, they're first adopters. We
were first to launch on Sky, first in Europe to launch a WAP site, and
first to sign up to visual radio, so continuously innovating has been a
very important part of what Virgin Radio stands for."

Plans for a full launch of Visual Radio, which offers mobile users
video, will open up more opportunities for advertisers. But Cridland
says radio is primarily a "secondary medium" - something people have on
while they do something else - so, audio-over-mobile is a prime focus.
New figures for Virgin's 3G mobile service - another first - reveals it
attracted 18,500 listeners in March. The station is also a believer in
'podcasting' and makes the Pete & Geoff Breakfast Show available every
day for download to devices such as the iPod.

Podcast people

For the uninitiated, Cridland explains: "Podcasting is a way of getting
audio on to your music player. You download a piece of software to your
computer, which automatically searches the web for new audio
content.

As soon as it spots that we have it available, it connects to our
servers, downloads it, and automatically sticks it on your iPod when you
next sync it with your computer. There are 23 million MP3 players in
America," he adds, "and 29 per cent of those people have used a
podcast."

The podcast has spawned 'podvertising'. Orange, Expedia and the COI have
all run campaigns over this new channel. The COI's aim being to attract
Special Constables. "How clever," says Cridland. "You're advertising to
people who have a bit of spare time, so what do you do? You advertise it
on something people are listening to when they've got a bit of spare
time."

But, just as mobile offers new ways for brands to reach their audience,
so online offers deeper opportunities too. Radio competitions and
promotions are increasingly being backed on the web. One competition,
run during Virgin's Breakfast Show last year, invited callers to win a
Mazda by guessing the song being played on a car's stereo as it was
driven around Virgin's London HQ. Each morning, DJs Pete & Geoff gave
listeners another chance to win by directing them to the Virgin site to
play an online version of the same competition. The site also had specs
of the car and invited users to register their email address for more
information; warm leads for the advertiser.

Media fit

"The internet and radio are ridiculously complementary," reckons
Cridland.

"Radio is great for emotiveness; it is great for immediacy. The internet
is great for permanency; it's great for detail. Put these two together
and you've got an advertising medium that is really good at
communicating a host of messages."

This neat fit rubs against recent press articles that have built up the
battle between web and radio over ad spend. Figures from the Internet
Advertising Bureau in March claimed online's share rose to 3.9 per cent
in 2004 while radio claimed 3.8 per cent - the first time the web had
overtaken its older rival. But others agree the internet and radio make
excellent bedfellows.

Mike Hope-Milne, former commercial content director for The Capital
Radio Group, notes that radio remains strong as a "secondary medium" and
that "it makes perfect sense to tie in on-air advertising with online.
People can go online as they listen to radio. If they are in the car and
hear an interesting ad, they can go to the web site later to find out
more."

Universal McCann Interactive has just worked on a campaign for
Microsoft, sponsoring the online players of 40 radio stations (see box).
Streamed ads run in the player while the service downloads. The product
fits as it's for Microsoft's Windows XP, which lets users burn music and
video from the web to CDs on their computer. Jason Carter, managing
director of interactive at Universal, says: "It depends on the product.
You can only really do it if you have the right kind of content. If we
do any big promotion with Capital Radio, we'll make sure online fits
in."

For Virgin, this means its sales teams need to be up to speed with what
its digital services can offer advertisers. And Cridland says media
agencies are well aware of the possibilities. "The ad agencies are very
canny and know exactly how to use digital options. For our podcasts,
we've had some good conversations with some of the larger agencies about
the opportunities."

One is OPera, the media consultancy co-owned by Omnicom's PHD and OMD
networks, which worked on the COI 'podvertising' push for the Special
Constables. "It's that kind of thing that's very clever and shows that
advertising agencies get this just as much as our sales team," Cridland
adds.

Mobile hopes

His hopes for mobile led him to South Korea last month where, as in
Japan, mobile usage is several steps ahead of the UK.

He says the payment models here are holding back the development of 3G
content take-up. "All UK operators are very interested, but the UK has
some difficult issues because of cost. Only Orange offers an unlimited
3G data tariff, but, in some cases, it can cost £14 for an hour's
worth of data," he says. However, in the Far East, there are unlimited
data (content) options for $8 per month, while T-Mobile offers a
package for $24 a month in the US, he adds.

While he waits for the UK to catch up, Cridland has helped strike major
partnerships with betting firms on the Virgin site and its new player
has a full-screen option that plays graphics while the radio player is
on. This is designed for those who use their home computer as a
stereo.

"What we've done is to put in a full-screen player. You can see what
we're playing and you get a psychedelic picture. We thought 'this makes
perfect sense; this is how people are now using their computer'," he
adds.

All the other stations in the network, like Virgin Classic Rock, require
their own version of the player and he has 160,000 opted-in email
subscribers to attend to. "Our main focus is new platforms," says
Cridland. "New media's mission statement is threefold: we want to get
more people tuning in; we want people who are already tuning in to tune
in longer; and we want to be earning additional revenue streams for the
radio station.

"Two years ago, we asked people 'how did you first hear Virgin Radio?'
and 10 per cent said 'not on the radio'. That's testament to what new
media and the new platforms we're looking at can do, because interacting
with a brand is really important." L

VIRGIN'S DIGITAL FIRSTS
2005: First radio station to launch a daily podcast
2005: First with software to broadcast to 3G phones
2004: First to launch its own 'radio toolbar' for browsers
2004: First UK station to sign up to Visual Radio broadcasts to mobile
phones
2004: First in UK to broadcast an Online Music Chart
2000: First to launch a WAP site
2000: First to launch online-only radio stations and an interactive
radio player
1996: First in Europe to broadcast over the internet
1995: First to broadcast a full-time service on DAB Digital Radio
1993: First to broadcast via Sky satellite TV

MICROSOFT BACKS RADIO PLAYERS

Microsoft's key competitor is itself, according to Universal McCann
account director Alan King, as it is always trying to get its users to
upgrade to new software.

For Windows XP, its music listening capabilities were seen as a key
selling point. It lets users listen to music on their PC and burn it to
a CD.

The firm's latest campaign is to back GCap Media's online
radio-listening service for its network of 40 radio stations, including
Jazz FM and Classic FM. The online players are based on the Windows
Media Player, each one branded with Windows XP. An ad for the system is
streamed to users before the content starts running.

The 'skin' on each interface has been designed to mirror the systems of
Windows Media Centre PCs. King estimates that the promo will reach 1.7
million users a month.

He points out: "Even on standard campaigns, radio and internet seem to
fit really well together. Our best response on banners comes from radio
sites like Capital. It shows people are just staring at their online
players and are happy to click the ads while they listen."

PROFILE: JAMES CRIDLAND

Head of new media strategic development, Virgin Radio

Responsibilities: Manages the team responsible for radio-streaming and
virginradio.co.uk. Also produces the Electronic Programme Guide used on
six platforms; digital TV; LiveText for digital radio; 3G services and a
Visual Radio service compatible with Nokia mobile phones.

Achievements: Virgin won Online Radio Station of the Year at the Digital
Music Awards 2003 and again in 2004. This year, it won all radio
category awards at the Webby Awards.

Background: Worked in radio since 1989 as a copywriter, presenter and
internet adviser. After stints at the Metro Radio Group and Emap Radio,
and a short spell running his own dotcom, Cridland joined Virgin Radio
in 2001.