Your Radio Station … Now With Spot Deletion!

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“Adios, commercials.”


Want to stream your favorite broadcast radio station, but can’t stand those long commercial breaks? Here’s a mobile app from a firm that just changed its name from Clip Interactive that’s guaranteed to get your company’s attention — and that of your clients, too.

The Boulder, Colo.-based company founded in 2012 is now known as Auddia, and its promise is to provide more content, and less commercials, to consumers.

It’s big sell:

Transforming the way listeners engage with radio, podcasts and the future of audio content

It’s perhaps just a tad disconcerning for radio stations looking to build ROI — and digital dollars — through enhanced ad revenue that goes beyond the ad inventory heard on an AM or FM radio station.

Indeed, the promise of over-the-air radio minus the commercials is central to the change in name of Clip Interactive to Auddia.

“As our vision and purpose has slowly evolved, we felt it was important to update the look and feel of our brand,” says CEO Michael Lawless. “While ‘interactive’ digital content tied to audio content is still central to our core business, we’ve been developing new technologies and consumer-facing audio products. We’ll be aiming in new directions as we head into 2020, and a consumer-friendly name change was warranted.”

But as Auddia works “to transform the way listeners engage with radio, podcasts and the future of audio content,” it could unleash a wave of outright hatred from the nation’s radio station ownership groups.

Imagine listening to your favorite stations, personalities and shows without distracting, unwanted ads.

Perhaps financially strapped companies including Entercom and Beasley Media Group don’t want consumers to imagine such a scenario.

How does it work? “Our patent pending artificial intelligence technology identifies unique AM/FM content segments and has the ability to deliver listeners a personalized, hassle-free audio experience.”

Simply put: Ads are identified and removed, leaving great music and local content.

To be fair, iHeartRadio streams largely replace local over-the-air advertisements with content including additional music, trivia vignettes, and promotional announcements.

Other companies use the space for digital-only audio advertising.

Auddia takes it to a whole other level, perhaps exposing the radio industry’s biggest weakness in an audio world full of choices: long stopsets.

The quality of the commercial itself is also an issue at some groups and at independently owned stations.

Among the individuals leading Auddia’s business growth plans is Bill Freund.

He tells RBR+TVBR that not one company is objecting to Auddia’s plan.

Why? Auddia is a subscription-based platform, turning broadcast radio into a Spotify-like offering.

Freund is the EVP/Chief Business Development Officer at Auddia, and he argues that consumers have expressed interest in forking over a monthly fee to listen to what’s available on a radio for free, only to avoid those pesky spots that clutter the principal audio channel used by an industry for 100 years.

While that remains to be seen, one thing is clear: digital audio is hot, and if radio groups are on board for a plan that seeks to weaken Spotify in any way, it might stand a chance at gaining consumer interest in the months and years to come.

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