Tips on How to Use Our Advertising Sequencing and Scheduling Features

If you are a radio professional these days, you are no doubt not only aware of the growth of online streaming, but also aware of the growth of online advertising, including mobile. Our system not only allows you to take advantage of this growth, but allows you to smartly target specific areas of listeners using our "geo-location" targeting technology. By 2015, 70% of all desktop and mobile ads will geo-targeted. This way, ad impressions are not wasted on listeners outside of a particular market that cannot take advantage of the advertised product or service.

If you are doing any advertising on our latest Version 4 Player, you have clicked on the tab in your Control Panel marked "Advertising". Or, if not, what's behind the door you ask? A lot of features and flexibility tools designed to allow you to maximize your online revenue potential, that's what! Many of our stations use these features very successfully. All you have to do is get in and drive.

For instance, you can use the "Impressions and Targeting" section to schedule any kind of media play, from video pre-rolls to banner ads, and control, schedule, and sequence them in a variety of ways. With our handy calendar tool, you can set up campaigns to run at specific times, or in specific sequences, create daily or even hourly display limits and even create content classifications so that competitor spots do not play back to back or in the same break.

The flexibilities are endless. You can schedule ads to run by DMAs, or run nationally, internationally, or even select specific countries to target and prioritize those over other international campaigns. All media, whether audio spots, video roll, or rich media display ads, are all controlled in the same manner by you. Once a campaign has reached a completion point that you set, you are sent a campaign completion report via email. You can also view the campaign reports anytime right from the convenience of your Control Panel. 

Campaigns can be set up to run daily, weekly, monthly or annually, so that once you schedule content, you only have to make changes as needed. You can set up schedule blocks, or sequences for your advertisers, and fill in the ROS on the player from our Ad Delivery Network (ADNet). This way, you don't waste any impressions, and ensure that all your listener sessions are monetized by national and international branded advertisers from our ADNet.

Also, it's very simple to join our ADNet, and with the click of a mouse, turn over all your pre-rolls, in-stream spots and banner slots and let us do the rest. We fill your listener session impressions from our platform of digital ad providers; you do absolutely nothing and automatically get a check each month for your share of the revenue generated from your listener traffic.

How to Promote your Online Streaming

The great thing about streaming your broadcast online is, anyone, anywhere can listen. With the tremendous number of listener sites, Pandora, competing stations, etc., you can't expect your listeners to always remember they can listen to your broadcast online or on-the-go, so you have to constantly remind them. It's just like anything else; you have to promote it if you want to reach market penetration. So, what are some ways to get the message across about your online streaming? Oh, and are you promoting your iPhone and Android apps? If not, you need to be hard at work promoting mobile, which is set to overtake desktops in the very near future.

On-site banners and buttons - Don't make your online player link hard to find, or it will never be heard. Create engaging banners/buttons that aren't lost down below the fold of your website. Make sure they are close to the top, as part of the header, or obvious navigation and not crowded out by clutter. Every time a visitor lands on your website, you want to make them want to click that listen live button, and have the opportunity to download your mobile apps. It should literally jump out to greet them and be one of the first things they see. I've come across many station websites that display their 'listen live' button way at the bottom of their site, or embedded in a row of navigation links too small for the naked eye to see...and as the saying goes, "out of sight, out of mind."

On-air mentions - Have the DJs consistently mention your online streaming and your mobile apps as part of station ID and promo. Run :15 second promos and special news updates ROS. Run contests and promotions, like having weekly drawings to win concert tickets displayed only on your player, or chat live with the DJs on air, and even promote song requests via your players. Consistently doing this will create habit for your listeners, and may listen online more frequently once they experience the interactivity. Promote not only your online stream, but your ability to stream to all devices, like Androids, iPhones, etc. (assuming you have them, and if you don't, you should). And hey, driving traffic to your website doesn't hurt either! You want all your air listeners to know that they can listen online simply by going to the station's main website and clicking on your 'play now' or 'listen live' button that's prominently displayed.

Promote your streams on social network sites - You shouldn't hide the fact that you have an online stream, so post it everywhere you can. Social network sites are a great, fun way to share stuff with listeners. Use your station's Facebook page to promote your online stream, put the link in your bio, and occasionally include the link in status updates to remind 'likers' that they can listen to their favorite morning show anywhere from any desktop or mobile device. Tweet about upcoming guests on the show and share the link in case listeners won't be near a radio. Social networking is a great way to extend your listener base, as I've stated in previous articles. You can gain listeners from across the country . . . or across the world! It's great catering to your local listeners, but it's even better when you can extend your reach around the world. Friends will see friends sharing your live player, and those friends will see those friends . . . well, you get the picture.

Giving listeners the flexibility to listen when they want at any point in time is what gives you an advantage, but you must promote, promote, promote. Otherwise, how will they know? You need to consistently remind them and offer interactive ways to listen. I look at stats every day from stations that have a streaming application, players, mobile apps and all, yet aren't promoting them and have a scant handful of listeners. In this case, if you build it, they will come . . . but only if you tell them about it. And like everything else that we know to be true about radio, repetition in the market equals credibility!

 

Whether you are AM, FM, or internet, having your own customized streaming apps are powerful tools in promoting your station, show, or content. Not only are you catering to your listeners, but you are also positioned to generate revenue from yet another source that's in demand and is here to stay....online and mobile advertising. Make sure you get your own iPhone and Android apps if you haven't already.

2012: Great Listener-interactive Features With Many More on the Way

As we tear into 2012, we have a lot of great things on the drawing board of our clients' future. We have a diverse team of developers and programmers hard at work to continue to make improvements, enhancements, and innovations in our online streaming services for our clients around the globe. There are so many items on the drawing board and in various stages of development, that we can't enumerate them all here today, nor do we want to let the cat out of the bag on our next quantum leap in the online radio arena.

Check out our features pages completely, if you haven't already. From time to time there are clients that will call and ask about a particular feature, only to find out that it's already available in their Control Panel. We certainly have a lot of features, so it can be easy to miss some of them. To check out all of the features, you can log into your Control Panel, or view them all on the site at http://rss.securenetsystems.net/index.cfm?page=features. Make sure you take a suitcase, cause you are gonna be there awhile!  

Check out some of the features we have that are designed to manage your streams, earn revenue and provide your listeners with the best possible online listening experience:

If you are not already streaming in AAC+, then you may want to take a look at upgrading to the newest and highest-compression streaming format available today. Although we stream in Windows Media and MP3, AAC+ is twice the quality of an MP3 stream at the same bitrate, and far superior to Windows Media. It is also the format used in today's expanding streaming frontier to reach any and all device types out there.

Have you talked to your rep about getting Android and iPhone apps for your station? They are free of charge, customized to your specs, and integrated with social media and listener-interactive features like our playlist widget, Song Wizard, contact information, station information, and more. The mobile apps can also be monetized by our Ad Delivery Network, generating additional revenue from every listener session. Make sure to get in touch with your rep as soon as possible to take advantage of the rapid growth of mobile streaming.

Our players can be embedded anywhere by using a simple copy/paste to grab the stream URL from your player. Then using a simple HTML i-frame implementation, add your player to as many sites on the web as you want, embedded right into the page as shown here.

You can also opt-in to our Ad Delivery Network and display audio, video, and banner ads from national and international advertisers and make money every month on your split of all ad impressions and clicks across all desktop and mobile apps. You can also run your own ad campaigns for your local advertisers and sponsors, and fill the rest of the schedule automatically from our network. This gives you the best of both worlds...you can sell player time to local advertisers, and still not miss out on revenue from our Ad Delivery Network.

Add the Search Wizard to any website and let your visitors search for their favorite artists, albums or songs. Search results provide lyrics, ringtones, bios, concert tix, YouTube videos and more. The widget comes in 3 different sizes, available right in your Control Panel under the blue button labeled "Embeddable Widgets". Each one is provided with simple copy/paste code for embedding easily into your website. See examples here

Hey, and here's one where you don't have to do a thing....30 second stream eliminations from your royalties! That's right. SoundExchange's royalty rules state that if a copyrighted song plays for less than 30 seconds, then it does not count towards your royalty calculations. We save you money every day on music streams by making sure that you do not pay one cent more in royalties than you are required to. 

Here is a great feature for talk or music; the ability to "black out" or block certain time slots from streaming online. You can replace single events, or schedule an entire season in advance with our calendar-based, articulate, control panel software. This is especially useful for syndicated shows, races, games and other content that you do not have the rights to re-broadcast and need to restrict. All you simply do is go into your Control Panel, grab the handy little calendar scheduler and block out those time blocks....it's one of our more widely used features.

We can go on and on, but you probably have to get back to work running your stations. Let us take care of the rough stuff when it comes to your streaming! 2012 promises to be another great year of growth in the radio streaming sector, followed up neck-in-neck by the online advertising that goes with.

To find out more about all of the features we have available, go through your Control Panel, check out the site, or talk to your rep. We want to not only be able to provide you with the best possible service, but also want you to have the full understanding of the plethora of features that we are always working on in order to make your life easier and help cater to your clients in this modern-day marketplace.

Are You Prepared for What's in Store in 2012?

A major growth area in 2011 was the increase in mobile streaming and the expansion of the radio beyond the traditional dial and desktops, to cars, devices and the increasing demand of streaming smartphone apps loaded with listener-interactive features. The demand for mobile streaming correlated with the increase in smartphone usage, and there will be an even bigger growth in mobile and online streaming in 2012, as our research clearly shows.

A November 2011 survey through MarketWise, non-traditional listening has grown to 36 percent in discrete demos. This does not mean that traditional radio listening will suffer, but most studies find that people are simply adding more media usage into their daily lives; work, home, car, gym...etc. Your listeners are still out there listening at the same measurable rate, just via different means and devices and at different times of the day....Convenience rules nowadays! 

Mary Meeker, an Internet analyst at Morgan Stanley, projects that by mid-2013 mobile internet usage will start to surpass desktop internet usage, resulting in an even larger growth in the mobile streaming area. For the years to come there will be a steep incline in mobile internet usage, with almost 2 billion users by 2015.

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What does 2012 mean for you? It means you MUST take advantage of this growth and make sure you are utilizing mobile streaming to your advantage. By having your own customized streaming apps for iPhone and Android, it means your listeners can reach you when they are not by their computer or radio....and they will be! You must take advantage of all of our great features and be in the game NOW, instead of playing catch up down the road.

Whether you are AM, FM, or internet, having your own customized apps are a powerful tool in branding your station, show or content. We encourage you to step into 2012 with open arms and embrace the technology. Not only are you catering to your listeners, but you are also positioned to generate revenue from yet another source that's in demand and is here to stay. Make sure you get your own iPhone and Android apps today if you haven't already. Send us an email to info@securenetsystems.net.

Our Growth in Online Radio Streaming and Ad Delivery

According to Alexa Traffic Rankings, Securenet Systems has been the fastest-growing radio streaming provider in the world for the last 2 years. Our growth has continually mirrored the growth of online streaming in general, making us the #1 favorite of terrestrial and internet radio stations around the world! Thanks to all of our clients far and wide, we have been able to maintain not only our growth, but the constant roll-out of new features and improvements.  

See some interesting growth charts here.

More and more national advertisers are looking to capitalize on the ability to target customers locally, using geo-targeted ad platforms, like Securenet's Ad Delivery Network (ADNet). Local advertising is, as defined in the latest issue of eMarketer as, "any form of advertising that targets a specific, localized audience or location." This includes search and display ad spend from all advertisers, including small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and national brands spending locally.

Our ADNet has continually grown at a mirrored pace, providing our stations with the ability to earn extra income from listener sessions without doing a thing. The ADNet allows you to deliver video pre-rolls, in-stream ads and display banners across all your players 24/7. You also have the flexibility of scheduling, sequencing and running your own spots on a schedule, while filling the ROS with ads from our ADNet....so you have the best of both worlds!  

Our ADNet not only targets listeners by geo-location using the Nielsen DMA tables, but our advertiser platforms that we are interfaced with provide the highest quality in display media and interactive advertising. We also have a large breadth of volume, commanding overall higher fill rates and CPMs. This works to your favor in 2 ways;

1. You enjoy the additional revenue paid out to you at a higher rate because of our market traction.
2. You command a much higher level of credibility with your listeners by aligning your name with top brand advertisers from the Fortune 5000 world.

Find out more about our ADNet by sending an email to info@securenetsystems.net or speak to your company representative. 

Online Advertising, Geo-targeting and Ad Revenue

The latest report from BIA/Kelsey 'Revises Radio Industry Revenue' shows their estimates for 2012, expecting increases of 3.5% for Over-the-Air and 15.1% for Online in 2012. According to S&P Equity Research, overall online ad revenue will increase by about 10% this year, that should push ad revenue to just over $28 billion in 2011. So between the two disparate estimates, we have good reason to be very optimistic about the growth of radio revenue in general.

The industry has also begun to realize that any loss of base listenership has simply transitioned to other dayparts and means of listening. Radio is growing, both terrestrially and internet-wise.

  

And the growth of online ad revenue proves that more listeners are spending more time online, using a variety of means; desktop, home devices, car radio heads, and of course, the fastest-growing area....mobile devices. Of course, it also means that they are clicking through and responding to online ads. If you are not taking the online advertising aspect of streaming serious, it's time to take a harder look.

Recent studies and reports also show that by 2015, 70% of all mobile ads will be geo-targeted, giving radio stations even more of an edge when it comes to advertising. The use of geo-targeting is the latest way to serve ads only in designated areas. By geo-targeting within our Ad Delivery Network, we deliver ads to only those relative listeners, so advertisers' dollars are not wasted on impression ads, which is the old-school way of doing things. Online and mobile geo-targeting produces better dollar-traction, and also gives a station more credibility. 

Our Ad Delivery Network, or ADNet, is a great example of using geo-targeting advertising to deliver ads within a specific area or region. Regardless of where the station is, any listener listening to that station within the targeting area, will be served a specific ad for that area only. Our system allows you to limit areas using Designated Market Areas (DMAs). There are 210 DMAs, covering the entire continental United States, Hawaii, and parts of Alaska. Each county is assigned to only one DMA within the US. 

Our ADNet also allows us to run ads and specify if we want to run in the US only, International only, or both. This gives us great flexibility in delivering proper content to the right listeners. We have developed relationships with many digital ad platforms and advertisers representing the top brands from around the world. Not only can your desktop player be generating revenue for you, but along with our mobile app ads, you are bringing in new revenue each month without even lifting a finger....well, you might have to click your mouse a couple of times, then sit back, let us do the rest, and you get a check every month for your share of the ad revenue generated from all of your combined listener sessions.

For more information on our ADNet or any of our other services or features, send an email to info@securenetsystems.net.

Embeddable Widgets Create Listener Loyalty

Check out our latest listener-interactive feature, the "Search Wizard". There is a newly labeled button in your Control Panel labeled "Embeddable Widgets" as shown below (formerly Site Playlist Embedding). When you click on the button, you will get a secondary page with links to the Song Wizard playlist widget and the new Search Wizard widget.

 
Add the new Search Wizard to any website and let your visitors search for their favorite artists, albums or songs. Search results provide lyrics, ringtones, bios, concert tix, YouTube videos and more, in similar fashion as the Song Wizard results.

You can check out the new widget on our site under; "Features" | "Social Media and Listener Interaction" | "Search Wizard" (second selection after Song Wizard).

And if you aren't already using our Song Wizard, you should take a minute and check it out. We have added examples of both widgets to our homepage. The Song Wizard allows you to embed your current "Last Song Played" playlist on any website, and is also the playlist widget on your desktop player and mobile apps.

These are 2 especially useful features that you can use to provide more information to your listeners, create a higher dwell-time, and instill greater listener loyalty. 

We are constantly working to come up with more and more innovative ways to enhance your listener's online experience. For more information on the Song Wizard and the Search Wizard, you can log into your Control Panel, or talk to one of our knowledgeable reps. For additional information, send an email to info@securenetsystems.net.

A Couple of Developments Affecting Your Market

Growth of Smartphone Usage

It is projected that smartphone users will exceed 53% of the market by the end of this year. If you have seen the latest statistics, iPhone and Android account for 76% of all smartphones in the market today. If you haven't already taken advantage of streaming mobile apps for iPhone and Android, you better get started now. You need to be out and about with your listeners on their daily travels, and customized streaming mobile apps are just what you need. If you haven't already gotten our new highly-interactive mobile apps for your station, please let us know so we can get you set up. It's simple, easy and we'll have you 'goin mobile' in no time flat!

Growth of Geotargeted Display Advertising

By 2013, geotargeted display ad revenue is forecast to reach $1.9 billion, up from $879 million spent on banners in 2008-a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16%-according to BIA/Kelsey in a recent report. Localized ads, comprised primarily from numbers from the SMB market, will see the highest growth with a CAGR of 66%.

Securenet's Advertising Control Panel allows you to geo-target and serve ads by DMAs, national, and international markets, giving you incredible flexibility, but at the same time, making sure that you only serve ads in the right market. This way, you do not waste your advertiser's dollars on unqualified listeners.

Our Ad Delivery Network also provides you with highly targeted ads, providing you with higher relevancy to your listeners, a higher click-through rate, and thus a higher revenue share. For more information on our ADNet and generating monthly, recurring revenue without doing a thing, please send an email to info@securenetsystems.net.

Say Hello to Our New Partner!

We would like to introduce our latest strategic technology partner, Orban. Securenet Systems is a fully authorized reseller of Orban Optimod and Opticode PC stream encoding products. Orban is a name synonymous with high-quality AM/FM and studio encoding gear, and Securenet Systems is proud to be associated with such a stellar product line.

The Optimod line of products stream your broadcasts in MPEG-4 HE-AAC v2 (also known by its trade name of AAC+ or AACv2), delivering higher audio quality at lower bandwidths than any other audio codec technology currently available. Accordingly, AAC+ delivers streaming and download 5.1 surround at 128Kbps, CD-quality stereo at 48 kbps and excellent standard quality stereo at 32 kbps. This level of efficiency fundamentally enables new applications in the markets of mobile, internet, and digital broadcast.

If you want the best in encoding quality for your AAC+ stream, then Orban is the name. Orban's Optimod series audio processors pull in larger audience shares with a louder, cleaner and more attractive signal. Whether your signal is AM, FM or Webcasting, Optimod processing will shape your sound for maximum reach, appeal and long-term listenability. 

A little more on AAC+

Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) is the latest standardized, encoding scheme for digital audio. Designed to be the successor of the MP3 format, AAC achieves much better sound quality than MP3 at similar bit rates. AAC is also the default or standard audio format for iPhone, iPod, Android, and mobile phones made by Sony Ericsson, Nokia and others, plus webOS-based mobile phones. AAC has also seen adoption on in-dash car audio, especially on high-end audio-head units.

Our latest Version 4 Player System encodes in AAC+ at a base encoding rate of 32 kbps, which is twice the quality of an MP3 or Windows Media stream. If you are not streaming with our latest version player, it's a cinch to upgrade....just holler at us and let us know and we'll get you upgraded ASAP!

If you need additional information on streaming with us using AAC+, or would like information and pricing on the Orban Optimod and Opticode systems, please send an email to info@securenetsystem.net.

The Playlist Wizard Works Across All Platforms

If you want to fully cater to your listeners, then you need to utilize the embedded playlist song wizard. It's simple to use and easy to integrate, and best of all, it's available to ALL streaming accounts. One of your listeners hears a song 5 minutes ago and they're dying to know the name; are you able to provide this information readily? A major component to listener loyalty is being able to cater to your listeners' needs.

Our playlist song wizard is more than just a list of songs recently played. It's integrated with album art, links to buy the song, ringtones, music videos, lyrics, artist bios, and even concert tickets in your local area. You can also display as many past-played songs as you want to, showing the exact time the song was played.

The playlist wizard works across all platforms, tying all your media together - player, website, and mobile app.

Player: Your desktop player has a link that pops open a small window within the frame of your player to display the song list.

Website: You can grab the embed code from your Control Panel and embed the song wizard right onto your website for easy access to show every song that's currently playing.

Mobile Apps: The song wizard is displayed within your streaming app so your listeners can still see the song info even while they are on-the-go.

If you haven't added this onto your website, you should! It's nice eye-candy and a great interactive tool that gives your listeners a longer dwell time.

For more information on the playlist song wizard or any of our features and services, send an email to info@securenetsystems.net. We also welcome any of your questions, comments and suggestions!