In the United Kingdom, the Digital Radio Development Bureau (DRDB), which works with broadcasters, retailers and consumers to boost awareness of Eureka-147 DAB, is coordinating a six-week pre-Christmas campaign to boost DAB set sales.
The campaign includes print, online, on air and in-store promotions, including ads promoting digital radio on analog commercial and BBC radio channels. DAB receiver manufacturers, including Sony, Pure and Roberts, are working with commercial analog stations to give away receivers.
Listeners are being encouraged to visit www.getdigitalradio.com where they can enter their postal code to find out what digital radio channels can be heard in their neighborhood.
National commercial broadcaster Absolute Radio gave away more than 200 Pure Highway in-car DAB radios during the second half of November. According to the station blog, nearly 25,000 entries were received by the station and more than 67,000 hits were recorded on the station DAB microsite.
Back in the States, the HD Digital Radio Alliance is also looking to put HD Radio receivers under Christmas trees with a combination of on-air, online and print advertising, including a newspaper insert in the Dec. 5th issue of USA Today.