The ways and times of use change, but the radio confirms itself as a "friendly" and "always close" means of communication. Indeed, in these strange days of domestic quarantines it becomes for Italians a way to "rejoice", "improve the mood" and "feel united".
The coronavirus effect on work and daily habits is also felt on the way we listen to radio programs. Everyone can see the decrease in traffic on our roads (67% of people less to move by car) which means less use of car radios. But this does not mean that the broadcasts have suffered a proportional backlash. On the contrary.
According to what was reconstructed in a research curated by the GfK Italia institute, "Listening to Radio at the time of Covid 19" - commissioned by TER, Radio Editors Table, a company that takes care of the detection of radio audience ratings in Italy, consisting of the quasi all the public and private, national and local broadcasters of Italian radio - the impact on radio audience ratings is very limited. In fact, there was a decrease of 17%, almost offset by the increase in the average listening time, which increased by 11% (on the listening of the last 7 days).
From drive-time to sofa-time
It can therefore be said of a change in the approach to radio programs, not of their abandonment. Like many other of our activities, even the 'consumption' of radio is done at home. And this means that "tuned" devices are multiplying. If previously the car radio conveyed music and programs to more than half of the listeners, the lockdown has restored centrality to the radio devices which now account for 43.3%. More or less paired at around 27% are car radios (there is still an important slice of the population that goes to work, and these days prefers the car), smartphones / tablets and TVs. An index of how radio it is not turning off at all, but moving, is given by the access to sites or applications dedicated to radios that record + 61% of "time spent" in an average listening day.
"Relevant at home is the unprecedented presence of men and working women - underlines Giorgio Licastro, Media Area Manager of Gfk Italia - which increases the opportunities for exposure (from 1.1 to 1.5 per day) and pushes upwards , in the list of activities, listening to while you work, while doing gymnastics, in moments of relaxation. The areas that improve most after the start of the emergency are precisely those reassuring of proximity and comfort, as an antidote to forced solitude ; and at the same time those that act on the state of well-being, on mood, on emotion ".
The radio informs and approaches Italians in times of crisis
The crisis has favored the relationship with the medium, especially in terms of proximity, as a vehicle for positive emotions and secondarily also for information, participation and discussion. According to what the researchers have reconstructed, the music listened to on the radio appears fundamental, contributing to the sense of community, of collective participation, of serenity.
Comments