NextRadio metrics: “enhanced” content retains and engages listeners

nextradio 377wThe latest blog post from the always-cheerful TagStation team reveals metrics from the past two months. TagStation is the delivery system of NextRadio, which is a smartphone app which enables FM listening over the air — no data plan needed. NextRadio is available in selected Sprint phones which have activated FM chips inside. (See all our NextRadio coverage here.)

The TagStation blog has been forthcoming with how the app has been adopted and its activation footprint. Last December, after three months in the market, NextRadio had 83,000 phone activations; today that number is 175,000. The retention rate, which measures multiple uses within a 30-day period (similar to “active listeners” in streaming services), is holding steady at 32 percent across the time period. Mobile metrics are notoriously unreliable, as TagStation notes in its article, but that number is regarded as admirable.

Of interest is TagStation’s breakout of retention, frequency of use, and time-spent on stations using “enhanced” content. Enhanced content in NextRadio includes song information and album art. Not every station delivers an enhanced experience, despite TagStations many admonishments to do so. Enhanced stations enjoy twice the retention, more frequent sessions, and longer time spent.

TagStation offers online training for station managers who want to get enhanced in this medium. With 175,000 downloads, a third of which are actively used, across the nationwide radio landscape, it is understandable that a station owner would want to evaluate the return on investment. TagStation cites Hot97 in New York as a major-market NextRadio success — it is not only enhanced, but promotes its NextRadio presence via social media.

Brad Hill