The internet has, for several years, been blamed for the demise of radio advertising revenues.
According to ZenithOptimedia data, UK radio ad spend declined during 2005, 2006 and 2007.
But now, the sector seems to have accepted that, instead of waiting for the popularity of the internet to wane - or for advertisers to suddenly desert the medium - the solution is to embrace the medium and use it to recoup lost revenues.
Some agencies believe radio stations have missed a trick in recent years, largely ignoring broadband, while newspapers, for example, have embraced the medium with hugely successful financial benefits.
"Radio hasn't engaged its consumers half as much as it could or should have done with its offering," says Erica Taylor, group buying director at Starcom. "People listen to the radio because they like the station, so that needs to be replicated on the websites, earning revenue."
Today though, almost every radio group in the country is focusing its efforts on its online offering, with some beginning to see financial rewards. GCap claims its online revenues are expanding faster than the online ad sector as a whole.
Last week, GCap Media revealed it would be relaunching Xfm.co.uk and revamping Capitalradio.co.uk, while Bauer recently launched a classified recruitment section on the website of its Manchester station, Key 103.
Branding benefits
Jonathan Turpin, digital director at Bauer Radio, has been overseeing Key103Jobs for six weeks and, over February, the site is expected to have attracted up to 40,000 unique users and received 400 applications a day.
He says: "Because the application is branded with the station, the marketing is associated, so this in turn helps with the listenership. It's very hard to be precise but, in the first month, we achieved about 3 to 5% conversion of listeners to usage, which is a phenomenally good rate."
Turpin also reports a rise in advertising generated on the radio station "in areas we've not reached well before". He also anticipates more recruitment and education clients moving into radio advertising.
Meanwhile, at UTV Radio's TalkSport, head of online Matt Davis accepts that, as a smaller company, it must avoid taking big risks with its online forays. "We tend to see what people are up to, and then we choose the better bets that are going to work for us," he says.
Ross Nester, broadcast account director at Mediaedge:cia, thinks that radio players creating online communities is a logical step.
"Once radio groups get better at understanding what works and what doesn't, I can't see how it can fail," he says. "It's not about one big grand idea, but providing the content and usefulness that people want."
Virgin Radio was one of the early radio movers, launching its website in 1996. As an FM station, Virgin Radio did not have nationwide coverage, so the website launch enabled the company to develop a national presence. Virgin claims to have been the first European station to broadcast online, in 1996.
Andy Grumbridge, digital director at Virgin Radio, says: "We offer advertisers a one-stop solution across multiple platforms, offering online and on-air packages as one, from the same sales team.
"We have a lot of bespoke services and applications on our site, but we want to stop thinking about separate platforms and think about multi-platform networks."
While Virgin may have been one of the early movers on the web, its rivals now have their eyes well and truly online, with each radio group developing its own internet activities.
Deals secured
At GCap, group director of interactive and online, Robin Pembroke, is overseeing several ventures. Among these, it has struck deals with Apple and Amazon to provide radio listeners with a service that lets them buy music tracks on the web.
Pembroke rejects the notion that the industry has been too slow to embrace online, pointing instead to a number of factors - such as the uptake of broadband - that mean it is now easier for radio companies to exploit the web successfully.
"Stations tried to work with online back in 1999, but doing it on dial-up was a nightmare," he says. "We now have some phenomenal devices, such as the iPod Touch, which allow us to offer much more to our audiences."
Last month, the RadioCentre suggested that advertisers were going to start flowing back to radio, arguing that, because radio commands a greater share of consumers' time than the internet, ad budgets should follow accordingly.
The industry does not expect this to happen in spades in the immediate future. But there is a general acceptance that, should radio groups continue to surge forward with their online plans, these activities will soon become a major part of their businesses.
RADIO GROUPS ONLINE
VIRGIN RADIO
- DJs offer post-show blogs and discussions, as well as photos and video
- Footage of live performances at the station is available online, as is audio and video content from Virgin festivals
GCAP MEDIA
- My Classic FM allows listeners to personalise the classicfm.co.uk homepage
- Deals with Apple and Amazon allow users to instantly download current and recent tracks being played on GCap stations
- Xfm.co.uk website offerings include online communities My Xfm and Xu
BAUER RADIO
- Key 103 in Manchester is trialling a recruitment page on its website, which is soon to be rolled out across North-West England
- The group is considering rolling out online classified services around other genres, such as motoring and property
GLOBAL RADIO
- Heart and Galaxy offer DJ blogs, competitions and behind-the-scenes content
- Heart covers celebrity events and Heart and Galaxy have ticket sale pages for concerts and local events