Radio Days Africa 2015 Radio 2.0 Harnessing the power of radio on the internet
Francois Retief (COO) Brief Introduction and Presentation Structure
• Who am I?
• The influence of the internet and social media on content consumption
• The influence of the internet on content generation
• Who is iono.fm?
• If you have to jump, how do you tuck and roll?
• The Anna Karenina Principle
• Conclusion & Questions @ionofm Brief Introduction
• Obtained a BEng (Electronic) from Stellenbosch University,
• Worked as Senior Systems Engineer at Global Telematics (a Thales division)
• System Engineering Manager at ASTRATA Systems
• Project Manager and Systems Engineer of the main development division at Control Instruments (now MiX Telematics Ltd)
• Consultant in Complex Systems Development
• Founding member and COO of iono.fm. ( za.linkedin.com/in/francois.retief)
@ionofm Some questions to test the water
• Who of you wait until your favourite Satellite/ TV shows are broadcasted and watch it live as it is broadcasted? • Who watches via PVR?
• In the last month, who watched a movie, or series at your own pace via DVD, the internet or some other on- demand mechanism?
• Who still predominantly relies on their newspaper for their news updates? • Who relies more on getting news of the internet?
• Who listened to a podcast or audio on their phone in the last month?
• Who is worried radio is going to follow the path of newspapers?
@ionofm The internet is changing the way in which people access and
consume news, entertainment and other content.
@ionofm The future is mobile (As Kris Kropp said yesterday)
98% of teenagers in SA have cell phones. (Some living in rural areas has no running water, but cell phone.)
Teenagers consume most of their content on their cell phones and this will increase as personal technology devices improve and internet becomes cheaper.
10 years from now they will be your target audience.
Sure, but what about radio in cars?
@ionofm Some interesting stats
Estimated total mobile internet traffic in SSA, ● 81.6% of South Africans access the internet via their smartphone; by sub-region (2011-2016)
● In South Africa over 50% of smartphone owners have access to greater than 1GB of data / month;
● ⅓ South Africans make purchases over their phones and it is growing.
● There are more cell phones in SA than taxis, radios and TVs combined!
● Africa has 5 of the top 6 spots for the % of users on the internet that predominantly only use their phones for access. (SA #3)
● Kenya 99% of internet subscriptions are mobile.
Source: memeburn.com, Audience Research Foundation of South Africa, Deloitte Sub-Saharan Africa Mobile Observatory 2012 mobiforge.com, gsmaintelligence.com (2014Q4) @ionofm The internet is changing content itself
Traditional Radio Time Shifted Internet Content • Push model, can interact, but difficult to scale • Pull model, easy to share, easy to interact • Constrained to broadcast region • Accessible to anyone interested • Constrained to broadcast hours • Only constrained by production capacity
• Content dies as soon as the microphone is turned off • Life only starts when mic is turned off
With radio you're as good as your last show. With podcasting your content remains alive as long as someone is still interested in it.
@ionofm So are the days of radio numbered?
@ionofm Interlude: A story about bananas
Musa Balbisiana (Wild seeded-banana)
@ionofm Why would a banana choose to loose it’s seeds?
@ionofm Will internet kill the radio star?
• Will radio follow newspapers?
• The world is getting smaller though and the landscape is changing
• Are humans changing?
• Newspapers are certainly not doing well
• You live in interesting times
@ionofm Why iono.fm?
We started iono.fm because we wanted people to be able to listen good audio content - what they want, where they want and when they want.
We also wanted to empower broadcasters with the tools to effectively transition into this new digital age.
Technology and the internet has been the catalyst for a new generation of listener looking for more than just the traditional “push model” of radio broadcasting.
We imagined a mobile audio service that allowed users to create their own playlist from a variety of sources and upload and share their own material.
Our aim is not to replace radio, but to provide them with the tools to remain current and successful.
@ionofm iono.fm iono.fm is one of the global leaders in online talk radio platforms and the only one focused on emerging markets. Based in Cape Town, iono.fm has (over the past five years) achieved a leading position in the South African market in the podcasting, filing and searching of spoken audio content, mainly from radio but also from educational content providers, interest groups, professional associations and religious organizations. More recently iono.fm has also successfully extended its services to live streaming. iono.fm has developed a technology package which is changing the way people access audio entertainment, moving away from traditional content push models towards a demand pull model, allowing for much more efficient and targeted advertising campaigns. For developed markets iono.fm offers a fully enabled platform for iOS and Android. For emerging mass markets, iono.fm is also accessible on feature phones, which is a very popular way in Africa to listen to radio content. iono. fm is now also in the process of expanding further into the African continent and has commenced the on- boarding of an additional 60 radio stations onto the platform, which means accessing a population of half a billion people. This allows radio stations and other content providers to partner with iono.fm to migrate rapidly into the digital age. @ionofm Current Footprint
@ionofm So how do I make the leap how to I tuck and roll?
@ionofm Can’t I just roll my own?
Challenges of self developed solutions:
• Need of high levels of technical and project management skills
• Expensive to build (One off)
• Difficult to re-sell
• Risky to maintain
• Poor economy of scale
• Isolated
@ionofm So then a platform. What do I need to know?
Rule #1: Use the right tool for the job
@ionofm How about SoundCloud?
@ionofm So is this just podcasting?
Online content is often broadcast using podcast technology
Broadcasting and archiving live radio comes with added complexities for which traditional podcast software was not designed
Compared to iono.fm, most podcast technologies have simpler structures, different reports, less monetization mechanisms and fewer integration options, limiting the content provider
@ionofm So then, what do you need to be successful?
Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
-from Leo Tolstoy's book Anna Karenina
@ionofm Some important platform elements
Rich mobile friendly experience Very small audio files and mobile-optimised interfaces with user playlists, our service delivers a great experience for your listeners.
Instant social network presence Social integration puts all your content one click away from being shared on multiple networks by you and your listeners. We also include you in our own social media campaigns to increase exposure.
RSS and iTunes Every audio channel you publish automatically gets it’s own RSS feed your listeners can use directly. It’s output supports the Apple import guidelines and allows your content to be easily distributed via iTunes, directly from our platform.
@ionofm Some important platform elements
Online publishing portal Manage all your audio directly on our website - publish new episodes with easy drag’n’drop, draw dynamic reports of your downloads and page views, and update any of your content metadata.
Attach files & link content Attach additional images, documents and links to every published episodes. Graphs for financial or educational content, links to other relevant material; whatever you like.
Embed audio in your site Embedding your audio is easy with just one line of HTML. Our mobile-friendly embedded player can update automatically as you publish new episodes, lowering complexity and costs.
Analytics and reports Get deep insights into what, where and when your users are listening. Our online portal provides rich print- ready reports or raw CSV data with up to the minute output of how users are interacting with your content. @ionofm @ionofm @ionofm @ionofm @ionofm @ionofm Real Time
@ionofm Other important things to keep in mind
Additional revenue stream A combination of voice ads and web banners provide great ways to monetize your content and build a recurring revenue stream, leveraging a captive audience with rich analytics to get great rates and happy advertisers.
Avoid the technology zoo HTML5, RSS, SEO, MP3, CDN, user experience, transcoding and horizontal scalability. Just a few of the buzzwords necessary to a modern and international service. Let us worry about these, while you run a radio station.
Widen your footprint An online platform for your station that is no longer limited to any geographical region, allowing a truly international footprint. Our built-in SEO, great social sharing features and high speed hosting ensures you the best possible exposure. @ionofm Other important things to keep in mind
Baked-in SEO Your pages on our site contains all the tags and metadata for search engines to really recognize your content for what it is when indexing it and to display it in a rich format.
Remove the expiry date From your content, that is. Building lasting value from every broadcast by having your content permanently hosted and archived on our site.
Build your audience Increase your listenership by having your content available 24/7. From commuters on trains, busses and taxis to someone who missed their favourite series or interview, reach new listeners just by being there.
@ionofm Other important things to keep in mind
Please your biggest fans Niche series and topic specific programs are proving very popular on our platform. These are typically your most passionate listeners, who will go out of their way to find your content. Don’t let them down!
Showcase your highlights Those magical phone calls, hilarious pranks and brilliant one liners are the stuff of legends when they go viral on the internet, why not share them with the world!
Supersize your content Short on-air timeslots? Keep the conversation going and provide full-length versions online. Music stations are no longer restricted to short interviews, News departments can upload full version of short sound bites and journalists can do in-depth interviews.
@ionofm Other Usefull Services
• Streaming
• Premium Content
• Controlled Access Groups
• Distribution partners like iTunes, WeChat and biNu
• Access to best practice and knowledge
@ionofm Monetization: Online Advertising and Other
Advertising
• Make money even when not on-air
• Best of both audio and banner ads
• Campaigns per duration or number of impressions
• Rich reporting and analytics
Other forms of Monetization
@ionofm So I have a a good platform… What now?
3 General Pillars for Success
Quality Content (Good audio, up to date, good metadata)
Awareness (on air mentions, DJ’s buy in, social media)
Easy online access (Website integration)
@ionofm Quality Content
• Have something people want to listen to • Identify the right content from the bouquet and convert it into the right type of podcast type. (Channels, channel types, length of content.) • Right length and format for the audience • Good metadata (channel descriptions and episode descriptions) to make it ‘pop’. In essence this is what will grab the attention of someone looking at the content and tell them if they want to invest the effort to start listening or not. • Appealing graphics • An effective upload procedure and team to ensure content is consistently uploaded reliably and quickly. • Keeping content up to date and relevant Awareness
• No matter how good, no-one will listen if they do not know about it.
• Understanding and buy-in from presenter teams
• Social media integration
• On-air mentions
• (Promos)
@ionofm Easy online access
• To listen you need to be able to find it. • Shortcodes are good (e.g. metro.iono.fm) but embedded players on own site still better • Direct link for people specifically just looking for quick access to podcasts to listen to e.g. while driving or exercising. (For people not interested at that time in reading or viewing video.) • Clear, visible ‘Podcast’ link on front page of the website, preferably at the top or clearly visible on the section that gets loaded without having to scroll too far down. • Embedded player for some broadly appealing content that can be played from the front page, preferably with hooks to more content. • An archive section showing the different channels and drilling down into a list of episodes for each. • Multiple access points e.g. embedded players on the DJ/Show pages leading to their content. • Some of these pages may overlap e.g. on the high level the archive page can show all the shows but clicking on it takes you to the show page with embedded players and more information about the show, team etc.
@ionofm In closing
The game is still the same, but the field and the rules are changing.
‘The same water that turns the wise man’s mill washes away the fields of the fool.’
‘If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.' So if you want to go far, choose your company wisely.
@ionofm CONTACT
FRANCOIS RETIEF
+27 82 328 6543
[email protected] | www.iono.fm
4th floor, Waterford House, Waterford Road,
Diep River, Cape Town, SA.
PO Box 397, Bergvliet, 7864.
@ionofm THANK YOU