Virgin Radio DJ Russ Williams is on air and obviously wondering who the unknown faces staring through his studio window are. Establishing that we are neither friends nor famous, he returns to his show and we wander off to ask James Cridland, head of new media strategic development, how 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.
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