Audio communication in the face of the renaissance of digital audio

In recent years, digital audio has undergone an explosion. The transformation of radio and its expansion to new channels and consumer devices, added to the rise of podcasts and streaming music platforms, have led to the transformation of the audio ecosystem. This transition from the audio medium to audio media has involved an integral change in content, as well as in its production and reception processes. In this regard, the aim of this paper is to approach the present digital audio scene from the standpoint of its content, formats, and broadcasting models as well as of the new professional profiles, business models, and consumer–relationship practices, providing a snapshot that is completed with a prospective reflection on the challenges facing radio in this new ecosystem

Podcast as a transmedia sound extension of audio-visual fiction

La ductilidad del podcast, un formato que favorece la autonomía y el control del oyente en el acceso al contenido y la intimidad y personalización en su escucha, permite expandir el alcance de la ficción audiovisual a través de relatos transmedia que amplían las posibilidades de conexión del usuario con sus historias, entornos y personajes. Esta investigación analiza los quince podcasts producidos en España durante el periodo 2015-2021 como extensiones de series estrenadas en cadenas de televisión en abierto (La1, Telecinco y Antena 3), canales de pago (FOX) y plataformas de video bajo demanda (Movistar+, HBO Max y Amazon Prime Video). El estudio confirma que todos ellos dan continuidad al universo narrativo original mediante una amplia variedad de géneros sonoros –audioficciones, entrevistas, tertulias, reportajes y documentales– y aportaciones argumentales exclusivas, distintivas y valiosas. Al mismo tiempo, se constata que, en algunos casos, las estrategias de distribución no están bien definidas ni aprovechan todas las plataformas y dispositivos de acceso al contenido. En todo caso, se evidencia el gran potencial del audio digital como un recurso creativo, eficiente y económicamente asequible tanto a nivel artístico como comercial. Con él se favorece la generación del engagement y se promueve una cultura de participación e interacción entre los fans que se convierte en una efectiva réplica a la creciente fragmentación de las audiencias en el contemporáneo ecosistema digital.The flexibility of the podcast, a format which favors the listener autonomy and control in the access to the content and the intimacy and personalization in the listening, allows us to expand the reach of audiovisual fiction through transmedia stories that expand the possibilities of the user’s connection with their stories, backgrounds, and characters. This paper analyses the fifteen podcasts produced in Spain during the period 2015-2021 as extensions of series launched on broadcast television channels (La1, Telecinco and Antena 3), pay channels (FOX) and video-on-demand platforms (Movistar+, HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video). The analysis confirms that all of them give continuity to the original narrative universe through a wide variety of sound genres –audio-fictions, interviews, talk shows, reports, and documentaries– and exclusive, distinctive, and valuable story contributions. At the same time, it is notable that, in some cases, distribution strategies are not well defined and do not take advantage of all platforms and devices for accessing content. In any case, the great potential of digital audio as a creative, efficient, and economically accessible resource, both artistically and commercially, is evident. It favors the generation of engagement and promotes a culture of participation and interaction among fans that becomes an effective response to the growing fragmentation of audiences in the contemporary digital ecosystem

Teenagers, smartphones and digital audio consumption in the age of Spotify

The consolidation of smartphones as dominant devices for access to digital information and entertainment has redefined the processes of production and commercialization of cultural communication industries. The nature of these screens, which prioritize the visual content over the sound, decisively influences distribution strategies in the audio market: radio operators, streaming music platforms and podcast creators need to adapt their value chains to the habits derived from this mediation, especially in the younger audience. This research identifies the practices of mobile use as an audio receiver among adolescents in Colombia, Spain and Mexico –the most representative countries of Spanish-speaking digital sound consumption– based on a descriptive study on a thousand subjects from 13 to 19 years of age. The results confirm the overwhelming dominance in this music menu in the face of low penetration of radio and podcast word content. The selection is based on personal criteria, with little margin for the prescription of family or friends. There is evidence of the roots of individual listening, linked to the brand and the visibility of audio providers, who are obliged to develop diffusion logics based not only on thematic or genre preferences, but also on the user experience

Democracy and Digitisation: Ethical Implications of AI in the Personalisation of Content through Voice Interfaces

Artificial intelligence (ai) in all its developments is advancing faster than the capacity of institutions and organizations to offer legal, but also deontological responses: assuming the ethical implications of the new digital scenarios where technology learns from human routines to personalize content is fundamental from the academic, politicy and business spheres. This paper offers an interpretative framework of the evolution of smart speakers and voice assistants as tools for information singularization in parallel to the study of the European framework for the creation of an ethics of ai. The results show an effort by institutions to respond to an unstoppable progress and demonstrate that ai cannot be addressed by legal regulation alone but is above all a matter of ethical preference.La inteligencia artificial (ia) en todos sus desarrollos avanza a mayor velocidad que la capacidad de instituciones y organismos para ofrecer respuestas legales, pero también deontológicas: asumir las implicaciones éticas de los nuevos escenarios digitales donde la tecnología aprende de las rutinas humanas con el fin de personalizar los contenidos resulta fundamental desde las esferas académica, política y empresarial. Este trabajo ofrece un marco interpretativo de la evolución de los altavoces inteligentes y asistentes de voz como herramientas de singularización de la información en paralelo al estudio del marco europeo para la creación de una ética de la ia. Los resultados muestran un esfuerzo de las instituciones por responder ante un avance imparable y demuestran que la ia no puede ser atendida únicamente mediante una normativización legal, sino que supone, sobre todo, una cuestión de preferencia ética

La notificación push como estrategia informativa de la radio en el entorno digital

Given the standardization of the smartphone as the dominant device for access to information in the digital environment, Spanish radio stations have assumed a presence on these devices in order to attract listeners and facilitate listening. One of the most visible and efficient utilities is the push notifications delivered through mobile apps. This paper analyzes the design, content, and structure of the alerts sent by the four main talk-radio networks in Spain –SER, COPE, Onda Cero, and RNE– during two non-consecutive periods during the 2016/17 season (January-February and March-April). This study proposes that push notifications have the potential to transfer radio’s immediacy and proximity into the smartphone. This article also discusses the journalistic models of the four radio stations analyzed

Deporte y espectáculo en la narrativa de los 'e-sports': el caso de 'League of Legends'

e-sports have stablished themselves in the leisure and entertainment digital market with similar number of followers, turnover and advertising to those of traditional mass sports. In addition to fostering individual fantasy without space-time limitations as it happens with video games, esports are articulated on discursive strategies and techniques that expand the emotional bond between the player, the sport and the audience. This article identifies and describes the evolution of video games throughout their history, the conversion of many of them into e-sports —clarifying the elements that make a discipline such us a videogame becomes a spectacle—, and focuses on the ludic proporsal of e-sports from a case study on League of Legends, the world's most popular title, whose unique narrative strategy has made it a game, sport and spectacle hybrid.Los deportes electrónicos se han consolidado en el mercado del ocio y entretenimiento digital con cifras de seguidores, facturación y publicidad similares a las de los tradicionales deportes masivos. Además de fomentar la fantasía individual sin limitaciones espacio-temporales como sucede con los videojuegos, los deportes electrónicos se articulan sobre estrategias discursivas y técnicas que amplían el vínculo emocional entre el jugador, el deporte y la audiencia. Este artículo identifica y describe la evolución de los videojuegos a lo largo de su historia, la conversión de muchos de ellos en deportes electrónicos —clarificando los elementos que hacen que una disciplina como un videojuego pueda convertirse en un espectáculo—, y se centra en la propuesta lúdica de los deportes electrónicos a partir de un estudio de caso sobre League of Legends, el título más popular a nivel mundial, cuya singular estrategia narrativa le ha convertido en un híbrido de juego, deporte y espectáculo

The sport as a strategic tool in the construction of the Canal + Spain brand

La identidad de una institución o empresa constituye la base argumental sobre la que articula su actividad y pretende ser percibida por su público, un objetivo para el que resulta imprescindible la construcción de una imagen de marca. En esta comunicación se describe y analiza cómo se concibió el posicionamiento y la imagen de marca de Canal + España desde su lanzamiento en el mercado televisivo en 1990, y cómo el contenido deportivo se articuló desde el principio como uno de los elementos básicos y diferenciales en la consolidación de esa imagen de marca.The identity of an institution or company is the based to its activity and to the perception by the public, a purpose for which it is essential the building a brand image. This communication describes and analyzes how the positioning and branding of Canal + Spain since its launch in the television market at 1990 was conceived, and how the sports were articulated early on as one of the differential and decisive elements in the consolidation of this brand

La notificación push como estrategia informativa de la radio en el entorno digital

Given the standardization of the smartphone as the dominant device for access to information in the digital environment, Spanish radio stations have assumed a presence on these devices in order to attract listeners and facilitate listening. One of the most visible and efficient utilities is the push notifications delivered through mobile apps. This paper analyzes the design, content, and structure of the alerts sent by the four main talk-radio networks in Spain –SER, COPE, Onda Cero, and RNE– during two non-consecutive periods during the 2016/17 season (January-February and March-April). This study proposes that push notifications have the potential to transfer radio’s immediacy and proximity into the smartphone. This article also discusses the journalistic models of the four radio stations analyzed

Push notification as a radio information strategy in the digital age

Given the standardization of the smartphone as the dominant device for access to information in the digital environment, Spanish radio stations have assumed a presence on these devices in order to attract listeners and facilitate listening. One of the most visible and efficient utilities is the push notifications delivered through mobile apps. This paper analyzes the design, content, and structure of the alerts sent by the four main talk-radio networks in Spain –SER, COPE, Onda Cero, and RNE– during two non-consecutive periods during the 2016/17 season (January-February and March-April). This study proposes that push notifications have the potential to transfer radio’s immediacy and proximity into the smartphone. This article also discusses the journalistic models of the four radio stations analyzed