The journey toward making FM radio available in smartphones and NextRadio a household name has asked a lot of broadcasters including partnership, faith, funds, and some extra effort to make the app’s experience great. And though that has been the focus of these posts for several weeks now, we thought it would be a good time to shed some light on some of the other actions being taken to help the forward momentum in marketing the app to consumers.
As we’ve talked about in the past, success relies on several parts all moving at once towards building a solution, providing a platform, tearing down obstacles, activating devices, delivering content, and creating awareness. And though each moving part often relies on the next, we’re chipping away. Recent behind-the-scenes actions have included structured programs and more organic collaborations. Any way you slice it, the desire to win the battle grows – from our end, participating broadcast groups, Sprint, and now as we move toward a consumer marketing push, we’re betting that radio fans feel the same way.
We hope you’ll find it as encouraging as we do and feel pride in your own efforts knowing that attention has intensified, and an increasing amount of importance has been placed on moving this forward. But before we get into this positive impact, I can hardly wait to share the new numbers…
By the Numbers
- Over 580,000 app downloads
- Over 9,500 FM radio stations tuned to from the app
- Over 625,000 hours of listening through NextRadio
- A 4/5 Google Play Store user rating
Nudge, Nudge…
What a difference 2 weeks makes. We have Sprint to thank for providing us with a banner day last Tuesday by sending a “push notification” to its customers’ phones telling them to check out NextRadio. The result? We saw a record 25,000 downloads in one day – over four times more than what the average daily rate had been – bringing the week to a close at nearly 50,000 downloads. The push notification is key for activating users who have never opened the NextRadio app preloaded on their phones, or serves as a reminder to casual listeners . It also targets Sprint customers with phones purchased before NextRadio launched who have the ability to download and install it from the Google Play Store. We could all use a little reminder now and then!
Another effort from Sprint that will help push consumer awareness was the delivery of a round of promotional NextRadio-enabled phones to 30 disc jockeys throughout the country. The “seed phones” provide a seeing-is-believing experience to DJs who then promote NextRadio to their listeners both on-air and through social media – encouraging their millions of listeners with Sprint Android phones and all HTC One M8 users to download and take advantage of NextRadio. And like we discussed before, what better way is there to learn about NextRadio than from your favorite on-air personalities?
Now, say you’ve already gotten your stations up and running in TagStation, or maybe you’re not a broadcaster. Can you still make an impact? Absolutely. A joint venture is just around the corner created by several broadcast groups with consumer and safety interests at heart. Tackling the struggle of smartphone FM chip activation by other wireless carriers in the United States has been an uphill battle – the pushback always centers around the need to see real consumer demand. So these concerned parties have joined forces to inform the public and give them a platform for making their voices heard. Stay tuned for details coming very soon!
Moving Forward
If you follow us on Twitter, chances are you follow @NextRadioApp – which is great! But starting today, if you’d like broadcaster-focused updates, please follow us @TagStation as we transition the focus of @NextRadioApp to be messaging targeted for consumers.
FRIENDLY REMINDER: Have you signed up for our exciting webinar yet? Join Paul Jacobs and Paul Brenner on July 16th for a free live video event called “NextRadio and the Connected Car: Growing Listeners with Interactive Content”. This event is open to all broadcasters interested in learning more about the future of radio in the car’s dashboard. We do ask that you register so we can send you viewing instructions closer to the date. There will also be plenty of Q&A time after the talk.
We look forward to talking again in a couple of weeks when some of this exciting behind-the-scenes stuff makes its public debut!
