NextRadio has long urged participating stations to engage with listeners using enhanced content via its app platform. Now the company says recent data shows listeners prefer their radio that way.
The Emmis-backed firm said a year-over-year data analysis from the NextRadio app shows that listeners tune-in more often and spend more time when stations supplement their live FM audio broadcasts with enhanced content. This is one of the selling points of the NextRadio approach, and broadcasters participate at that level by paying an ongoing fee to NextRadio.
The enhanced experiences include things like program schedules, social media interactions, contest entries and other visuals. Stations that utilized such content saw a reported 3x growth in tune-ins over stations that displayed just a station logo or nothing at all. Stations with enhanced content also saw 1.6x growth in time spent listening, according to NextRadio.
President Paul Brenner said in the announcement, “Stations that leverage enhanced content options available in NextRadio enjoy a measurable competitive advantage — they are growing audiences and connecting with their listeners in a fresh and personal way.”
The data was gathered using NextRadio’s listener data from January–April 2015 and January–April 2016.
