jācapps, developer of mobile apps for radio, announced it would begin offering mobile game apps to radio stations. These unique games are station branded, and offer multiple opportunities for sponsor messages and engagement. A new game will be released quarterly, enabling stations to plan ahead for promotion and sales.
“Games create amazing synergies with radio,” said Bob Kernen, COO of jācapps, “Radio provides a perfect promotional platform, and its deep relationship with the audience makes it the perfect springboard for driving the kind of social, mobile behavior listeners love. The games are engaging and drive the repeat usage that appeals to sponsors. It’s the right answer when a client asks, ‘What’s new?’ They also support programming because they enhance a station’s brand image.”
This past fall, jācapps produced a game app for Greater Media’s WCSX/Detroit to coincide with deer hunting season. Said WCSX PD JT Tarrants: “Our listeners were ready for us to step up and offer them more than the clichéd ’10 in a row,’ and engage them with an app that hyper-targeted our listening audience. If you truly care about your audience, engage them on several different platforms and they will reward you. The huge success of our CSX deer hunting app is proof.” The app was downloaded over 50,000 times in less than 5 weeks and, with sponsor Carhartt (who hadn’t advertised on radio before) on board, posted a 3x ROI.
Marketed as four-game packages and targeting key demos and formats, station sales staffs will be provided a predictable schedule for optimal marketing. The games are often seasonal in nature and certain packages, like the sports and casino games, offer excellent opportunities for unique sponsorship tie-ins that are independent of CPP and CPM constraints.
“We know that many advertisers are requesting unique mobile sponsorship opportunities,” added jacapps President Paul Jacobs. “In-game sponsorship transcends low-CPM banner ads and provides advertisers with a unique, proven platform, and radio stations can create long-term, profitable packages as a result. This is the way forward for mobile revenue generation for radio.”
