SBS Makes Move to Capitalise on Audio Offerings
Today, SBS announced a rebrand of its audio offering for multilingual audiences by switching on SBS Audio.
The launch of SBS Audio means that audiences can now enjoy SBS’s full audio offering in one unified digital experience for the first time. Improvements include better showcasing of podcasts, individual station pages and music search features.
The change coincides with a refresh of SBS Audio’s digital offering, designed to better showcase and improve access to the public broadcaster’s podcasts and live streaming services.
The move was announced last November at SBS’s Upfront where the network unveiled its 2023 content line-up to reflect the evolution of SBS’s cross-platform offering across more than 60 different languages. It comes on the same day that the public broadcaster announces the findings of its five yearly Language Services Review.
David Hua, SBS Director of Audio & Language Content
“Today is a big day for SBS and how we respond to our listeners,” said David Hua, SBS Director of Audio and Language Content.
“We’ve always been in conversation with our audiences, speaking their language and sharing stories. Not only are we announcing an update on how we are reflecting contemporary Australia in our content, but we are also going live with changes to SBS Audio that demonstrate how we are better serving our audiences on their preferred platforms”, he continued.
SBS broadcasts more than 262 hours of original audio content every week. The new SBS Audio digital experience across the app and website will further drive growth in a space where they are already seeing more than six million streams and podcast downloads every month.
More than 5.6 million Australians are using a language other than English at home, and SBS Audio provides content for diverse communities, including in English, and for those learning a new language.
The new digital changes see a number of new features introduced to the SBS Audio website that include better showcasing of podcast content from across the entire SBS network, improved discoverability of live language and music programming at any time, and new individual pages for all seven radio stations.
The new station pages are designed to help users understand what’s available and when to tune-in to their preferred live programming. SBS will also help audiences answer the question of "What was that song?” with a new music search feature using day and hour filtering on music station pages for SBS Chill, PopAsia and PopDesi.
The broadcaster was named ‘Podcast Publisher of the Year’ at the 2022 Australian Podcast Awards, and both the website and app showcase all the popular and award-winning podcasts from across the network, including SBS News and Current Affairs, SBS Television, and NITV Radio.
The change up in SBS new audio and podcast platform makes audio and podcast content more accessible.
Hua noted that the change in name did not impact individual programs or SBS’s commitment to serving audiences on linear radio.
“Radio has always been at the heart of what we do and that won’t change,” says Hua.
“What began more than 45 years ago as radio programs in a handful of languages has evolved to become an innovative, multi-platform media network that is meeting the needs of not just first-generation migrants, but also multilingual speakers who might be second or even third-generation and we are doing it on the platforms they prefer.”
The new SBS Audio website is at SBS.com.au/Audio. The SBS Audio App can be downloaded via the App Store for iOS and Google Play for Android.