The overall DAB adoption process

A word of warning, however. Some stakeholders have difficulty seeing the long-term benefits and struggle to commit, citing reasons such as “DAB will not add listeners”, “the cost is too high” or “the payback period is too long”. The future is bleak for such a view, with multiple digital platforms already taking slices of listeners (or content consumers) from the existing analogue listener base. This may be through multinational offerings such as Spotify, Apple Music and others, podcasts or simple streaming. The long-term evolution of digital delivery will ensure that analogue radio will decline significantly in many developed countries in the next 10 to 20 years; indeed, a UK government report released in April 2022 states: “Projections from Mediatique prepared for the Review suggest that FM listening will still account for 12–14% of listening in 2030 and 8–10% in 2035.”. 5 This decline is due to the demand for “modern” features, multiple content types and genres and costs. Countries that do not adopt digital broadcast radio will face the need to transition to mobile IP delivery in that timeframe and pay the price that is demanded by third-party network providers to do so, effectively limiting their control of the delivery of the content they produce.

Overall, those countries with the long-term vision and the courage to commit to DAB+ digital broadcast radio will enjoy the benefits of the most cost-effective and vibrant radio industry. We see evidence of this approach in Switzerland, with their planned ASO having a target completion date of 2024 and increasing discussions in other countries in Europe.

5 Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/digital-radio-and-audio-review/digital-radio-andaudio-review#chapter-3----the-future-of-radio-and-audio-listening-to-devices-used-in-home

3.2. WorldDAB support

WorldDAB is the global industry forum for DAB digital radio. WorldDAB facilitates the adoption and implementation of broadcast digital radio based on DAB, the digital radio standard adopted by broadcasters across Europe, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and beyond.

WorldDAB delivers tailored solutions and advice on all aspects of the switch from analogue to digital radio, including regulation, licensing, demonstrations, network build-out, marketing and production of new digital radio content.

WorldDAB also provides regular workshops and targeted support for countries embarking on the adoption of DAB+ digital radio. Workshops have been delivered to many countries outside of Europe, including at the ABU Digital Broadcasting Symposium in Malaysia and targeted workshops for countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Jordan, Algeria and South Africa. Such workshops have also included live demonstrations where a temporary low-power DAB+ transmission is established, typically around 100 W ERP, and field testing is then used to demonstrate the features and capabilities of DAB+.

WorldDAB continues to provide this support and encouragement around the globe. To find out more, please contact the WorldDAB Project Office at projectoffice@worlddab.org

WorldDAB continues to evolve the DAB+ standards with new features and capabilities through its committees and task forces covering all aspects of the DAB ecosystem, from standards updates (Technical Committee) to automotive implementation (Automotive Working Group), and ensuring that communities know about DAB (Marketing Committee). WorldDAB member organisations contribute in these forums to ensure that DAB+ digital radio provides current and relevant capabilities.

A full description of the WorldDAB organisation and activities is provided in §16.