Spanish regional public radios and the challenge of the young audiences

The exponential growth of podcast consumption and production in Spain poses a challenge for public broadcasters, who must fulfil their duty of public service without losing their competitive position against major tech conglomerates in the global audio market. This research aims to detect and analyse the innovation strategies and projects implemented by public radio stations across Spain in order to define future audio trends. The results show that stations employ five formulas to reach young audiences: identification of the audience with journalists and interviews with personalities of the same generation; address topics that concern young people; emphasis on cultural topics and live music; local issues with a sense of proximity and a priority focus on the distribution of dynamic and visual content through social media.