Energy Zurich launches a radio portal on the net
Energy Zürich is expanding its online offerings and launching the «Energy Radio» radio portal. In addition to the main program, listeners can now choose from ten channels featuring different music genres. The channels do not feature traditional commercial breaks; however, over the next few months, they will be allocated exclusively to individual partners as a branding platform.
Energy Zurich is expanding its online offering and launching the radio portal "Energy Radio". In addition to the main program, listeners can now choose from ten channels with different music genres. With the launch of the portal, the station is responding to the great demand for music on the Internet and the resulting change in user behavior. "Radio is facing a major change," said Managing Director Dani Büchi to Werbewoche. Just under a year ago, Energy Zurich launched four channels in addition to its main program. "We have diametrically different audience growth on the net than on FM," says Büchi. However, he vehemently denies the question of whether traditional radio no longer works: "The main program still has the largest number of listeners. We also assume that we will gain new listeners on FM thanks to the online portal." The station creates its own attitude to life and the aim is to keep the audience in this Energy universe.
There are no traditional advertising blocks in the channels, but they will be allocated exclusively to individual partners as a branding platform in the coming months. "This means that the respective channel on our portal will feature the customer's logo. The banners in the music player will also carry the customer's logo". The sponsors will also be named in the individual channels.
Research must keep pace Internet radio still faces certain problems in terms of measurement due to the current research situation. Energy is deliberately reluctant to communicate the listener figures for streaming radio, as it is not yet possible to determine binding figures based on research. The figures that Net-Metrix can measure are collected by the broadcaster. "Based on our own surveys, I can also say that we can report 80,000 unique users on the portal." Büchi assumes that research will also adapt to the changed circumstances and be able to provide reliable data on the use of web radio as soon as possible.
The new channels are intended to include music genres that are often neglected in the Swiss radio landscape. In addition to the main program, there are now channels called "Energy Hot", "Energy Black", "Energy Love", "Energy 80's", "Energy 90's", "Energy Dance", "Energy Girl", "Energy Rock", "Energy Soundtrack" and "Energy Special". So if you're in the mood for love songs, click on "Love"; if you're more in the mood for a party, click on "Hot". "Listeners want to vary the music depending on their mood. Instead of them choosing a foreign station on the Internet, we now offer this ourselves," explained Büchi. However, pure music programs like the channels do not work in all situations, according to the station boss. When driving in the morning, for example, the audience wants to fall back on conventional radio. This is another reason why he does not see classic radio in danger.
There are no traditional advertising blocks in the channels, but they will be allocated exclusively to individual partners as a branding platform in the coming months. "This means that the respective channel on our portal will feature the customer's logo. The banners in the music player will also carry the customer's logo". The sponsors will also be named in the individual channels.
Research must keep pace Internet radio still faces certain problems in terms of measurement due to the current research situation. Energy is deliberately reluctant to communicate the listener figures for streaming radio, as it is not yet possible to determine binding figures based on research. The figures that Net-Metrix can measure are collected by the broadcaster. "Based on our own surveys, I can also say that we can report 80,000 unique users on the portal." Büchi assumes that research will also adapt to the changed circumstances and be able to provide reliable data on the use of web radio as soon as possible.
The new channels are intended to include music genres that are often neglected in the Swiss radio landscape. In addition to the main program, there are now channels called "Energy Hot", "Energy Black", "Energy Love", "Energy 80's", "Energy 90's", "Energy Dance", "Energy Girl", "Energy Rock", "Energy Soundtrack" and "Energy Special". So if you're in the mood for love songs, click on "Love"; if you're more in the mood for a party, click on "Hot". "Listeners want to vary the music depending on their mood. Instead of them choosing a foreign station on the Internet, we now offer this ourselves," explained Büchi. However, pure music programs like the channels do not work in all situations, according to the station boss. When driving in the morning, for example, the audience wants to fall back on conventional radio. This is another reason why he does not see classic radio in danger.
However, he clearly sees the future in the Internet. Within the Energy broadcasting group, the Zurich channel is a pioneer in web programs. "Germany has also adopted our channels. That naturally makes us proud," explained Büchi. Radio on demand is a big topic for him. However, making spoken contributions available for download is not yet planned "today or tomorrow". "That's very time-consuming again" - but we also want to tackle this possibility.
Carole Scheidegger
