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Asia-Pacific broadcasters have been reminded they must strive for balance between new technologies and their audiences in the digital era.

The advice came from Ruxandra Obreja, Head of Digital Radio Development of BBC World Service and Chair of the DRM Consortium, speaking at a special Expert Dialogue Session of the ABU Programme Committee meeting in Hanoi in the run-up to the Union’s General Assembly on 28-29 October 2013.

Ms Obreja said some 2.7 billion people in the world are “connected” and 2.4 billion are “unconnected” in the digital world.

She said the 2.4 billion “unconnected” people must not be forgotten.

“So there has to be a co-existence of platforms, but this takes time and money,” she added.

The session was told that audiences are becoming savvy about media and technology as well as where and when they want content delivered.

Broadcasters have to be responsive to the demands of their audiences and to fast evolving media technologies.

Panelists for the session, chaired by Australian media consultant Steve Ahern, were: Ms Nguyen Thi Kim Hoa, Deputy Director, Scientific & Educational Department, Vietnam TV; Doan Quang Hoan, General Director, Authority of Radio Frequency Management, Vietnam; Soo Hyun-wang of KBS-Korea’s Technical Research Institute and Jun Ochiai of NHK-Japan’s Media Planning Bureau.

Ms Hoa said creative and quality content are effective tools to be used to reach audiences, while Mr Hoan described Vietnam’s commune radio program, set-up by central and local governments to reach people in rural areas.

Mr Ochiai spoke of NHK’s development of Ultra HDTV (8K) and hybridcast while Mr Soo described terrestrial 4K UHDTV experimental broadcasting in Korea.