As radio looks back on the past four years of living in a world rapidly filling up with smartphones and apps, there are more questions than answers.
Are listeners using our app?
Can we monetize it?
How important is the stream to our station’s success and how will it be measured?
What other features can listeners use that would build our brand, enhance our content, and optimize the mobile experience?
These are all good questions and depending on the brand, the company, and the local staff, some are easier to answer than others.
We have answered many of them in Techsurvey9 which were presented to stakeholder stations yesterday and today, and at the Worldwide Radio Summit on Friday.
But if you work for a company that doesn’t mandate that your brand music use an “aggregated app” like iHeartRadio, you might be asking yourself another question:
What other apps could we develop that would enhance the listener experience, build our brand – and make us money?
Now I realize that this question coming from a mobile app developer begs a number of other questions. And I’ll admit that I have a thoroughbred in this race. Our jacAPPS division continues to design, create, and produce some amazing apps for radio – as well as other industry verticals.
Great media brands can do more – and should do more – than just build branded apps that perform a simple function like streaming or access to podcasts.
Look at where The New York Times is moving with their new Scoop app:
Why shouldn’t the premier newspaper in New York City develop an entertainment app that merges some of their best entertainment and lifestyle departments? Instead of having to navigate all this stuff on their standard app, The Times makes it easy to find whatever you want to do while running around Manhattan. I’m sure that those of you who visit NYC from time to time have already started downloading this simple, focused app.
And that’s the point. The Times is a great brand with lots of tentacles, making it smart for them to take a deeper dive into the mobile experience. Why run around with a paper under your arm when your iPhone can do the heavy lifting?
That should tell you that your brand is likely capable of the same thing. And in mobile, you can take your brand and personality interests to a granular level. A case in point is a new app that jacAPPS just developed for a company called SHFT.com. You probably know a couple of their key players – the Ford Motor Company and Entourage star Adrian Grenier (pictured here with his business partner, Hollywood producer Peter Glatzer).
Food Tripping is all about finding healthy food choices – wherever you are. For someone like me who is health conscious and travels extensively, I wonder why someone hadn’t thought of this before?
But that’s the point – there are a myriad of possibilities in your market and for your stations (or clusters) to extend themselves in the mobile space. This activity builds your brands, provides service to your audience, and creates additional revenue generation opportunities.
Rather than looking at mobile as an obligation – especially as brands have to create Apple and Android apps – think of it as an incredible avenue to extend a station’s reach and influence in the lives of local listeners.
If you’ve built a great brand, it will go even farther when you go mobile.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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