SBS Australia has gone live with a rebrand of its audio offering for multilingual audiences under the umbrella of SBS Audio.
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 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.
SBS 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 also including SBS News and Current Affairs, SBS Television, and NITV Radio.
Adam Sadler, SBS Director of Media Sales, noted that since the change had been announced there had been a very positive reaction from brands and agencies looking to speak directly to multilingual audiences.
“There has always been a large, highly engaged audience tuning in on radio and digital,” said Sadler. “We are heartened by the reaction of the market who recognise the benefit of this shift enabling us to reach specific and highly engaged communities in a way which is both highly effective and clearly measurable.”
David Hua, SBS Director of Audio & Language Content, 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,” said 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 https://www.SBS.com.au/Audio. The SBS Audio App can be downloaded via the App Store for iOS and Google Play for Android.