Radio should use other platforms to attract younger audiences
By Ntaoleng Lechela
Youth audiences have become one of the toughest audiences to please. Grant Nash from 5FM and BBC’s Steve Martin shared their ideas on how to create content that attracts young individuals.
Technology was at the forefront of the conversation; the various social media platforms have forced radio to keep up because that is where their audience is.
BBC’s Steve Martin and Grant Nash from 5FM at Radio Days Africa.
Nash discussed the attention span of youth audiences and how important it is to “hook” them. He further described the presenter as a content hub that distributes a number of information on different platforms with FM just being one of them.
The two speakers also discussed the four reasons young people use media. According to Nash young people use the media to try and learn something in an informal way; to learn how to interact and function in the real world; to build relationships and for pleasure. These are the four aspects radio should look at when creating content for young audiences.
BBC’s Martin expanded on his involvement in BBC Minute and how it prides itself in creating content for young audiences. Martin said the core aspect of creating such content is at the heart of research. Within the research he found out young audiences identify themselves as global citizens therefore the content they receive should be outward and globally focused. He also identified that through research he found out that there are different genres within news that the young audiences are interested in and that is what the BBC Minute model was based on. YFM, is the only south African radio station in South Africa that has rights to BBC Minute, which Martin says, has proved to be an integral part of the stations news content.
Both Nash and Martin expanded their discussion on how demanding the young audience can be, however if one does their research, good content can be created.
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