Listening trends

Radio Round-Up: Exaget Week in Review

February 12, 2015

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Photo Credit: Pure.com

 

 

Last week we dedicated our Week in Review to the Super Bowl and its (lack of) digital advertising.

This week, it’s the turn of the radio industry, as we look at some station changes, new faces, and a transformation to the UK’s Official Albums Chart that reflects changing listening habits.

Read all about it:

 

TalkSport founder in bid to launch rival station

Kelvin MacKenzie, founder of TalkSport radio, has decided that it’s about time that his original founding station, which was sold to UTV for £98m a decade ago, had a competitor – and one that he would create himself. MacKenzie’s new station, called Sports Radio, is part of a Listen2Digital bid to run a second national commercial multiplex. If Listen2Digital wins their license, Sports Radio would be due for launch in January next year. MacKenzie was quoted saying, ‘It’s been clear to me for some time that there’s room for another player in the sports radio market. In capitalism, when there’s one there should be two.’

 

Streaming to be included in Albums Chart

Switching on the radio on Sunday afternoons to listen to the latest Albums Chart was as important a social gathering as the Sunday roast. But these days, it’s out with the CDs and cassettes and in with audio streams. For the first time, as of next month, audio streams will count towards the Official Album Charts, with data hailing from Spotify, Deezer, Napster, Google Play, O2 Tracks, Rdio and Xbox Music – all those music streaming services that we are being inundated with. Downloads and CD sales will still count; but the way audiences consume music nowadays is changing drastically, and with CD sales on the decrease while audio streaming steadily rises in popularity, it’s time that one of the UK’s institutional radio listening habits got a bit of a revamp.

 

Panjab Radio joining Bradford and Huddersfield

The Bradford and Huddersfield multiplex will be getting two new stations on board in the next couple of weeks – Asian radio stations Panjab Radio and Asian Sound Radio. Panjab Radio will be reaching its audiences on DAB across Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton, broadcasting in Panjabi and English languages. Asian Sound Radio, meanwhile, is set to expand its East Lancashire service in the next two months.

 

Tom Russell joins RockSport

RockSport DAB Radio station is all about just that – rock music and sport. (And, if we may do a bit of showing off, they’re one of our broadcasting partners too). Following their rebrand from Eklipse Sport Radio earlier in January, they will now be joined by former XFM, Real XS and Radio Clyde presenter – Tom Russell. He’ll be hosting the weekend mid-mornings, so be sure to tune in for your dose of sports talk and rock’n’roll.

 

 

If you are interested in becoming a broadcasting partner, or would like to know what our integrating technology can do for you, contact our Partnership Account Manager Matthew Layton – matthew.layton@exaget.com or +447533517396

If you are interested in advertising opportunities, please contact the CEO of Exaget, Shankar Meembat –shankar.meembat@exaget.com or +447411130680

Acquisition and Growth in World of Music: Exaget Week in Review

January 22, 2015

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Our last Week in Review looked at the turning of the tide for online music streaming services, as two more companies entered the fray; but radio still remains as the go-to-place for new music discovery.

This week we’re looking at growth and acquisition, as some of our favourite and well-known companies acquire new investments and businesses in a continual bid to grow and keep up with the ever-changing times of the music streaming industry.

 

Shazam valued at $1 billion after new funding round

Music-identifying app Shazam has this week been valued at an impressive $1 billion following a recent acquisition of a $30 million investment. The company has stated that they are looking to use this investment to expand into new ‘market sectors’ – notably marketing and advertising. Shazam have not disclosed who is behind the investment, but with this new acquisition it will be interesting to watch in what direction they will grow.

 

Apple buys music analytics service Musicmetric

As part of its plan to relaunch Beats Music, Apple’s music streaming service, later this year, the American music giant has acquired British start-up Semetric, who operate Musicmetric; an analytics dashboard that tracks data on sales for music labels. And although Apple are not stating their exact reasons for acquiring Semetric, it can be surmised that Musicmetric’s dashboard will become Apple’s in-house tool for tracking sales and streams within iTunes.

 

Streamus: A Google Chrome extension that undermines Google’s streaming business

The verdict may still be out for Streamus. Digital natives and those who resist paying for on-demand music will love this Google Chrome browser extension which ‘turns YouTube into the music player you always wanted’. It annihilates the video – thereby improving stream performance – and it also does not contain any adverts – so no opportunities for advertisers there. Essentially a better version of YouTube, and a Chrome extension that goes against Google’s streaming business – the reception that it will receive is certainly worth keeping an eye out for.

 

If you are interested in becoming a broadcasting partner, or would like to know what our integrating technology can do for you, contact our Partnership Account Manager Matthew Layton – matthew.layton@exaget.com or +447533517396

If you are interested in advertising opportunities, please contact the CEO of Exaget, Shankar Meembat –shankar.meembat@exaget.com or +447411130680

NPR One – The blueprint for mobile radio apps?

January 21, 2015

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Statistically, online radio listening is increasing year-on-year, with the biggest percentage of listeners falling in the 12-24 years of age bracket; and it’s the same story for music streaming services. As both audio platforms try to boost their listener percentage, they must look at what makes them different from their competitors. But online radio looks like it might have an advantage…

 

BURSTING AT THE SEAMS

There is no denying that the online music streaming industry is over-saturated. Just off the top of your head you would probably be able to name Spotify, Pandora, Deezer, SoundCloud and Grooveshark. And that’s just the big international players – imagine how many more, local, music streaming services there are the world over. Just last week it was announced that Tesco’s ex-music streaming service, Blinkbox Music, is to be sold to Guvera, yet another such service, hailing from Australia. French service Deezer acquired US based Muve Music to expand their music streaming footprint in America. And yet again this week we have been informed of two – yes, two – more music streaming services that we should keep our ears peeled for – Boomio and Nusiki, who both lay claims to providing users with services that are different, and better, than their competitors.

 

‘IF INSTAGRAM AND SPOTIFY HAD A KID’

Brian Hewitt, co-founder of Chicago-based Nusiki, has described this new app as ‘if Instagram and Spotify had a kid’. The secret, it seems, in launching these new apps, is in implementing small features which other apps have overlooked and making a big fuss over that. Spotify shares music too publicly? Ok, we’ll make our sharing system more controlled, as in the case of Nusiki. After all, it’s the little things that make the difference, a phrase that seems to carry a lot of weight in the world of music streaming.

Boomio’s mantra seems to be ‘sharing is caring’ as users pick a song to listen to and share, and at the end are prompted to either re-share in order to hear the next song or buy the track on iTunes. Sharing can be done to an individual, a group, or a social network.

But at the end of the day, music streaming services are limited in what they can offer to the listener when compared to the content of radio. Radio stations are of course already available on mobile phones, but they often lack that element of personalisation that such services as Spotify and Pandora offer. But what if there was an app that brought to you relevant news and stories, in bite sized chunks, from your local radio station as well as internationally, with the curation aspect of music streaming services?

Larry Rosin, president of Edison Research, has recently talked about one such app – NPR One. Dubbed ‘Public radio made personal’, it is available only in the US, although users worldwide can still download it and listen in. The app itself has many great qualities, but it’s not just good; it could well be a blue-print for future radio apps with which to take the online audio platform by storm.

 

‘PANDORA-ITISATION OF CONTENT’

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The advantages of radio are numerous and well-known. One of the oldest social mediums, it still continues to have a large relevance in people’s day-to-day lives. What NPR One does so well is offer their listeners efficiency. Up-to-date relevant news and stories, in under 5 or 10 minutes. Like the music streaming services, you can skip stories, flag your favourite, and share. But it also reminds the listener that there is a local public radio station as part of its programme, and one that needs financial support. Through this scheme the app inspires a wholesome community feel; radio really does bring people together.

Of course, NPR One only deals with news and stories; there is no music, no presenter tete-a-tete, no real-time traffic and weather updates. But all of these typical radio features could be merged with NPR One’s principal concept to create great personalised radio apps, which would have a better value to listeners than all the current numerous music streaming services which fundamentally all do the same thing, albeit in differently packaged ways.

And it’s not just broadcasters and listeners who would benefit from such apps; advertisers too could cash in by the implementation of personalised user-targeted ads.

The moral of the story? NPR One have a great mission and concept. Taken on a global scale and implemented by other radio apps, mobile radio would certainly offer much more than music streaming services – the varied content of radio, with the curated personalisation of music streaming, and adverts tailored to both listener and broadcaster. We all know that radio as a medium is still going strong, with audience figures constantly on the up, and it’s refreshing to see that younger listeners haven’t been completely sucked in by the world of streaming – at least, not in the UK. 

 

If you are interested in becoming a broadcasting partner, or would like to know what our integrating technology can do for you, contact our Partnership Account Manager Matthew Layton – matthew.layton@exaget.com or +447533517396

If you are interested in advertising opportunities, please contact the CEO of Exaget, Shankar Meembat –shankar.meembat@exaget.com or +447411130680

 

The Tide Turns for Music Streaming: Exaget Week in Review

January 15, 2015

Exaget Week in review

In our last Week in Review, we took a look into our crystal ball to see what new ventures may be coming out of the woodwork this year – including the futuristic concept of smart glasses.

This week, however, we turn our attention back to something that is already a big, popular, and sought-after phenomena – music streaming services. With Tesco last week announcing its sale of Blinkbox, the streaming services scene is about to become even more competitive as two new rivals are set to emerge this year:  

 

Tesco close to selling Blinkbox Music

Last week, one of Britain’s largest retailers sold their video streaming service, Blinkbox Movies, to telecoms business TalkTalk in a bid to reel in cash spend – and profit loss. This week they are set to sell Blinkbox Music, their music streaming service, to Australian company Guvera, who are already big in Asia and partnered with Lenovo. Guvera will use this acquisition as a means to get their foot into the UK and European market. Under their management, Blinkbox Music will undergo a face transplant in the form of new branding.

 

Deezer acquires Muve Music

We bring our attention back to European players – more specifically, to French music streaming service Deezer. They already launched in the US in September 2014 following a partnership with Sonos, but now, with the acquisition of Muve Music, they are set to expand their presence in the US – which is also home to perhaps their biggest rival, Pandora. What will make Deezer different? Access to an impressive 35 million tracks, and a tantalising price of $6 per month, compared to the $10 that most other services charge. Will this launch them into a big player on the scale of Pandora? Watch this space…

 

Why mobile is key to Spotify’s future growth

Swedish music streaming behemoth Spotify is this week celebrating 15m paid subscribers and 60m active users; and more than half of these users are streaming via their mobile devices. Statistics show that 42% stream on smartphones, and 10% on tablets. Their free streaming on mobile through their shuffle feature increased their amount of mobile listeners dramatically; but now their goal is to transfer these listeners into paid subscribers. But with Apple to automatically install Beats Music on their iPhones, it will be interesting to monitor how this will affect Spotify’s iOS users.

 

Radio still beats digital for music discovery

Despite the influx of music streaming services vying for your attention, ears, and wallets, the days of the radio are still going strong. The latest statistics from Nielsen have shown that 51% of music consumers in the US find new songs through the radio – that’s an impressive 243 million. The figures include all platforms of radio; car radios, AM/FM sets, and online radio. They also show that listening in the car is the most common way of enjoying music; and that Disney’s Frozen soundtrack is the number one listened to. It looks like there’s no letting go of it…..see what we did there?

 

If you are interested in becoming a broadcasting partner, or would like to know what our integrating technology can do for you, contact our Partnership Account Manager Matthew Layton – matthew.layton@exaget.com or +447533517396

If you are interested in advertising opportunities, please contact the CEO of Exaget, Shankar Meembat –shankar.meembat@exaget.com or +447411130680

Take a stroll through Middle-earth – Exaget Week in Review

January 8, 2015

Exaget Week in review

 

Welcome to our first Week in Review of 2015! We hope you’ve had a relaxing break and the year has started off well. As you may remember, in our last Week in Review we took a sneak peak at what’s set to be trending this year – including the ubiquitous ‘programmatic advertising’!

This week we’re continuing to look at what’s set to be trending, including wearables for consumers and businesses alike to keep an eye out for (no pun intended), as well as two new business developments that may turn our recreational audio and video habits on their heads. 

 

Twitter to be new Youtube

The little blue bird of Twitter is squaring up to take on video behemoth YouTube this year as they prepare to release a new video service on their platform. Such a move could prove pivotal to maintaining their relevance amongst users and their investors happy following a fall of their share price, which they are still struggling to recover.

 

Why you should look out for smart glasses in 2015

Smartwatches hit the consumer market in 2014 in the form of Android Wear, and are set to boom into greater popularity with the upcoming release of Apple’s Apple Watch range. But the market for wearable tech could be a very lucrative one, with BK Yoon, CEO and President of Samsung, stating that wearables would be as important as smartphones. And with Intel investing up to $25 million in internet-connected eyewear maker Vuzix, smart glasses are set to be the next big trend to look out for. One range will even allow you to take a stroll through the Shire with none other than Gandalf himself.

 

2015 Prediction – ‘Cars will have radios’

A thought leader in the connected-car space has this week made a thought-provoking statement that cars in 2015 will have radios. Mind = Blown. With so many of us relying on internet-connected devices (smartphones, laptops, tablets et al.), there is a risk that car radios will be ripped out of dashboards and replaced by – internet modems? Self-driving technology? A directory of streaming companies? No, that would be too silly, best to just stick to a driver’s best friend, the tried-and-tested car radio. Any chance we could bring back the cassette player though? Some of us have still kept our Spice Girls memorabilia…

 

If you are interested in becoming a broadcasting partner, or would like to know what our integrating technology can do for you, contact our Partnership Account Manager Matthew Layton – matthew.layton@exaget.com or +447533517396

If you are interested in advertising opportunities, please contact the CEO of Exaget, Shankar Meembat –shankar.meembat@exaget.com or +447411130680

Why you should look out for smart glasses in 2015

January 7, 2015

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We all know and love our smartphones, laptops, tablets, kindles, and iPods. We can’t imagine a world without them. We know such a world once existed, but how on earth did they manage to survive? But now imagine this:

It’s the morning commute. First Monday back after the New Year festivities. Oh how you wish you could run away from reality. But hold on, you can! All you have to do is pop on your smart glasses and the next thing you know you’re surrounded by little curly-haired people with hairy feet, amidst clear blue skies and luscious green rolling hills, while Gandalf offers you his pipe as you share some weed. (Pipe weed, for those of you who aren’t familiar with Middle Earth).

If this sounds too far-fetched to you, start getting used to it. The market for wearables is already opening up with the advent of the smartwatch; Android have already released their models and Apple is to bring out their Apple Watch sometime this year.

Smart glasses won’t be far behind. In fact, they’ve already been around, just not commercially. Osterhout Design Group products initially started out as devices for military applications, and are now broadening out into other industrial areas. They have been investing into their range of smart glasses for the past six years. So why smart glasses now if they’ve already been around for a while?

If you’re a keen gamer you’ll be familiar with those Oculus style headsets that completely immerse you in virtual reality. If you’re part of the rest of the world, you won’t have a clue what that is. Quite simply, picture a black rectangular box strapped to the top half of your face. The new smart glasses, however, are augmented reality glasses, such as Google Glass, which means that digital graphics and information are overlaid on top of the real world. Hence with one eye you can be admiring Gandalf’s majestic beard and with the other keeping track of your stop.

And what’s more these smart glasses are more fashion savvy. Last year Vuzix partnered with Lenovo and launched their M100 device, which looks a bit like an extended Bluetooth earpiece. This year Intel will be partnering up with Vuzix following a $24.8 million investment. Intel’s investment highlights their faith in the wearable tech market, which they claim is the next big growth area.

Jaunt, another wearables company, are tapping into the entertainment industry. Following their amassment of $28 million in funding from backers that included British Sky Broadcasting, they have released apps that range from an on-stage view of a Paul McCartney concert to that stroll with Gandalf through the Shire.

So if smart glasses will be able to transport you to Middle-Earth, what is there that they won’t be able to do? Jay Wright, vice president of product management at Qualcomm, stated that smart glasses had the potential to ‘disrupt the smartphone‘. Will smart glasses kill the smartphone star? Or anything that has a screen, for that matter. Are we likely to see a future of people watching television, listening to the radio, maybe even virtual shopping, all from a little piece of plastic curved around the side of their head? And how would advertisers feel about this prospect of their industry being turned upside down? If programmatic is challenging for them to grasp, embracing – and more importantly understanding – the technology of smart glasses may have them reaching out for some aspirins.

But perhaps we’re jumping the gun a little; after all, in order for wearables to be truly trending, they need to be just that – wearable. Teaming up with the fashion industry is imperative if wearable tech companies such as Vuzix and Jaunt want to see their products fly off the shelves. In an age where ‘sleek’ is the golden word of aesthetic descriptions, if the smart glasses don’t look good, consumers won’t bite, it’s as simple as that.

So whilst you may be getting used to your smartwatch, or eagerly anticipating it, watch this space; and if at some point this year or in the next you sit down next to someone wearing glasses on the tube and hear them say ‘You’re right, he was an absolute fool of a Took’, you’ll know who they’re talking to.

 

If you are interested in becoming a broadcasting partner, or would like to know what our integrating technology can do for you, contact our Partnership Account Manager Matthew Layton – matthew.layton@exaget.com or +447533517396

If you are interested in advertising opportunities, please contact the CEO of Exaget, Shankar Meembat –shankar.meembat@exaget.com or +447411130680

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