Quick Hits: Programmatic; Martin Bandier; Beats 1
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web. TODAY: Programmatic audio advertising; a publishing exec speaks out; betting against Beats 1. Continue Reading
Kurt Hanson: Bouvard’s Netflix-vs.-Pandora Math
by Kurt Hanson
Keying off a blog post by Pierre Bouvard, who recently joined Cumulus, Kurt Hanson reaches a different conclusion about Pandora’s market share, and how it compares to Netflix. Continue Reading
iHeartMedia announces Pride Radio, an FM extension of an online station
Over the last 15 years, FM radio has gradually extended its brands online, either via simulcasting or creating original streams derived from the broadcast signal. Much less common is an FM extension of a popular pureplay Internet-only station. 96.7 Pride Radio launches today in Minneapolis/St. Paul. Continue Reading
Internet Radio Rewind #047: Apple Music, Spotify growth; 8tracks adds music; April webcast metrics
A weekly podcast from RAIN News
Sponsored by AudioBoom
The weekly update of the streaming audio industry, from RAIN News. THIS WEEK: Apple announces its new music service; Spotify hits back with growth story; 8tracks also on the move; Triton’s Webcast Metrics Continue Reading
Norwegian radio event focuses on the push for digital transition
The Norwegian industry association Digitalradio Norge organized an event this week focused on the digital radio developments in the country. The Radioens Digitale Sprang (which translates to Radio’s Digital Leap) featured talks from several radio and broadcast leaders. Many of the discussions touched on the shift in messaging now that the timeline for a transition to digital radio has been agreed on by the Norwegian government. Continue Reading
ROK Mobile includes streaming music service in unlimited mobile bundle
ROK Mobile announced new developments in its available phone plans for music fans. The company is offering a bundle with unlimited talk, text, data, and streaming music for $49.99 a month. The streaming music component is called simply ROK Music and it has a library of 20 million songs. Continue Reading
Quick Hits: Opinions and projections about Apple Music
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web. The ongoing discussions of Apple Music’s place in the industry have pulled out a range of opinions. We select pieces from MediaPost’s London editor, a Bridge Ratings survey, and Jeffrey C. Smith writing in Re/Code. Continue Reading
iHeartMedia partners with, and invests in, Unified for data and targeting
iHeartMedia and Unified have jointly announced a long-term partnership to develop audience-targeting datasets that can be applied across iHeart’s sprawling radio, streaming, mobile, and event portfolios. The deal includes an unspcified investment by iHeart in Unified. Continue Reading
Ford launches branded Pandora country-music station to market trucks
Generations of country music have played on the radios of Ford F-Series pickups over the past 60 years. The station is hosted by songwriter Otis Gibbs, who introduces songs, radio-style, and also features interviews and a live studio session performances. Companion graphics stick with the experience. Continue Reading
RAIN announces Jake Shapiro, CEO of PRX, to keynote RAIN Summit Atlanta
In a tradition of featuring thought leaders in the online audio industry, RAIN today announced that Jake Shapiro, Chief Executive of public radio marketplace PRX, will present the keynote speech at RAIN Summit Atlanta, September 29. Continue Reading
Line Music launches in home market of Japan
Line Music has officially launched in Japan. It will offer two price tiers, the first costing 500 yen (about $4) a month for 20 hours of streaming. The second tier costs 1,000 yen (about $8) for unlimited listening on the platform. The streaming service is owned by Japan-based messaging company Line, and it also has involvement from Universal Music Japan. Continue Reading
Pandora exec evangelizes ultra-short mobile spots
Pandora’s Chief Revenue Officer John Trimble says that a mere eight seconds might be the perfect ad length for mobile video. “Looking ahead, I could envision video and audio ads as short as eight seconds being something advertisers and listeners will be interested in,” he said. According to AdWeek, the radio service isn’t going to imminently make a switch to a new ad length, but is considering a broader effort to reach the coveted young demographics. Continue Reading