Belkin TuneCast Auto LIVE

A neat, new tool for local station searching, Belkin’s TuneCast is a small iPhone interface that can:

• Quickly find the best FM station with the help of your iPhone GPS system and location-based user feedback. 
• ClearScan LIVE iPhone App conveniently recommends the best FM frequencies based on your GPS coordinates.
• Control your FM transmission easily from your iPhone screen. 

It uses an FM transmitter to translate the iPhone signal onto local radios. Used with the ClearScan LIVE iPhone App, you can find the best FM stations using your iPhone GPS system.

“Quickly find the best FM station with the help of your iPhone GPS system and location-based user feedback. ClearScan Live iPhone App conveniently recommends the best FM frequencies based on your GPS coordinates. Control your FM transmission easily from your iPhone screen.”

“Internet Radio Stations Are the New Wave"

Last week The New York Times posted an interesting news article, “Internet Radio Stations Are the New Wave,” about how internet radio stations are becoming more and more popular among listeners.

“Unlike standard broadcast radio, Internet radio stations can be heard virtually anywhere (copyright restrictions aside), as long as you have a device that can go on the Web; that can be a PC, a smartphone or a stand-alone receiver.

An Internet radio station may have started out life as a traditional local broadcast outlet, and then management decided that it would be great to let people hear it everywhere. Or an Internet radio station may be nothing more than one person in a basement uploading music or talk to the Web, hoping that someone out there will listen.

Literally thousands of genres of Internet radio exist, from oldies, classical and religious to ultraradical talk, from the right and left. The first trick is finding them, and the next is playing them. Fortunately, with a little information, both tasks are rather easy.”

Click here to read the entire article.

“miRoamer Platinum” Expected to Launch in Early 2010

The original miRoamer is an online portal where users can access the world's largest and most diverse selection of Internet radio content…all for free. miRoamer offers you the ability to wirelessly access all of the same Internet Radio content via portable hardware devices, cell phones, in your car, and wherever else the Internet eventually becomes available. Organize once, and listen from anywhere.

The improved miRoamer Platinum is expected to launch in early 2010. All stations are professionally arranged and fully-customizable, offering a tailored OEM and distributor solution with the upcoming launch of miRoamer Platinum.

"miRoamer Platinum will be the foundation of customized Internet digital media across all regions, cultures and genres of the world," said George Parthimos, Founder and CEO, Mi Media, and creator of the world's first portable Internet media player. "The basis of this acquisition underwrites the rapid evolvement of Internet media delivery and once again Mi Media Holdings is the first to find the pathway to connect the market to the most exciting technology changes of the next decade. We are now in an outstanding position to pursue merger and acquisition opportunities which align to our overall business model and add value to the miRoamer business. The Stripe acquisition furthers our push to become the global industry standard for Internet content management by enabling us to offer complete radio station customization through our end-to-end global Internet radio platform, miRoamer."

Future of Radio in 2010

Internet radio continues to attract more unique listeners.

In 2007, Bridge Ratings conducted a study on which primary daily “devices” were most commonly used: Terrestrial Radio, Internet Radio, HD Radio, Satellite Radio, Cell Phone, MP3 Player.

Comparing it to 2009, terrestrial radio dropped 9% while internet radio increased 6%.

More people are listening to radio via the internet than terrestrial. If you take a look at cell phone usage, you can see that cell phone usage increased 6% in 2 years. This increase in cell phone usage correlates with an increase in online radio streaming.

There are several free radio apps available for download to iPhones, Blackberries, and other smartphones. This allows for internet radio streaming via cell phones.

IMDA -- Guidelines for Internet Broadcasters

The IMDA, Internet Media Device Alliance, has recently announced new guidelines for internet radio station metadata.

Ben Terrel, host of the IMDA Metadata Working Group meeting said, “This metadata defines for the first time streamed radio station information to identify the station as well as stream information. Device design companies and aggregators will use this metadata to discover broadcast streams and also to enable the broadcasters to define how they would like to be represented on devices.”

"We've been hard at work trying to specify how any broadcaster can expose the various formats, transports and metadata of their live Internet Radio services in a consistent way -- quite a challenge! But it's been great to see the views of broadcasters, device manufacturers and aggregators of internet radio streams working together to make the internet radio experience better for listeners. To achieve our aims, we invite everyone involved in the chain to share certain working practices, and standards."

IMDA Technical Committee Chairman Andy Giefer of Deutsche Welle said, "Bringing key players in the Internet Radio industry together and using their requirements to draft a proposal on how to discover IP-based services shows itself to be incredibly useful. I am also glad that we have leading metadata experts in our group who help us to make sure that our work is in line with existing standards, complementing the latter where necessary. I expect broadcasters with a keen interest in New Media technologies such as Deutsche Welle to benefit tremendously from a unified and extensible approach describing services like live audio streams, on-demand-content and programme schedules."

The initial Metadata Guidelines will be released at the IMDA’s General Assembly meeting on January 8, 2010 during the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas. For more information, visit the IMDA.

Video Streaming for Radio

Video streaming for radio is becoming popular among radio stations and broadcasters. Having the ability to stream a live video right in your player can benefit greatly.

Your listeners will become more engaged in the station. They will get a chance to see the station, the staff, and most importantly, the faces of the hosts.

Many station owners are now streaming live video of their studios in full performance mode. This enhances the loyal listeners’ experience and allows them to see what really goes on behind the mic.

However, it’s important that the hosts do not get too wrapped up in the video aspect and forget they are producing a radio show. Thomas, from SBE Digest, states, “Newcomers to video streaming sometimes ham it up so much to the camera that the radio audience can become alienated.”

For more information on how video streaming can benefit your station, click here to read the full article.

Tips on How to Price Your Online Replacement Ads and Banners

The prices that you can charge for online, Internet-only replacement ads and banners for your players is going to vary widely, depending on the reach and scope of your market coverage and terrestrial spot pricing.

This overview is intended to provide you some pricing examples and ideas and insights that you can use in your ongoing sales and marketing efforts.

The first step is to look at the various elements of the player in order to get an idea of which features command more of a premium than another.

Spots Are Divided Into 2 Categories:

1. Replacement ad spots

Replacement ads - online replacement spot prices should vary according to the length of the spot, or the time slot played, just as a normal spot would. Replacement ads can be synchronized with a banner to create additional impact, thereby commanding a premium over just a standalone replacement ad.

2. Pre-roll ads: Audio pre-roll and Video pre-roll

Pre-roll ads - Since pre-roll ads are played at the beginning of every single stream that a listener starts, these ads essentially play to a captive audience and have more impact, therefore commanding a premium over a regularly inserted spot. Also, since video pre-roll has more impact that just audio alone, it commands a premium yet over audio pre-roll. Audio pre-roll can also be synchronized with a banner for added impact, so is once again, a higher-priced premium prospect.

Banner Ads and Player Buttons

Banner ads come in different sizes. On most local and regional websites, depending on where the banner is displayed, the cost will vary, with the homepage usually commanding a higher price. In many cases, the larger the banner, the higher the cost will be as well. In the case of banner display on a player, there is only one page, so cost will only be relevant to the size of the banner.

Banner ads that run in synchronization with a replacement ad for greater impact are going to command a higher premium as noted earlier.

Different banners from a theme-set can also be rotated with the same replacement ad.

Player buttons are going to be the least expensive ad space on your player, as they are the smallest space available.

Replacement ad spot: 10 – 15% of your terrestrial spot prices

Replacement ad spots w/ synchronized banner: 15 – 20 % of your terrestrial spot prices

Recommended spot lengths: :15 / :30 / :60. Campaigns run just like terrestrial

Video Pre-roll: $250 a month

Pre-roll is played before every stream starts. It cannot be closed, nor can it be fast-forwarded. The listener/viewer is a captive audience at this point. The video is displayed over the player with the background darkened for maximum effect.

Audio Pre-roll: $200 a month

Audio Pre-roll w/ banner: $250 a month

Banners can be billboard, small, large or extra-large and displayed at the same time as the pre-roll plays. Charge a 15% premium for billboard or extra large banner. Sell with the large banner as standard. Audio pre-roll is played before every stream starts. It cannot be closed, nor can it be fast-forwarded. The listener is a captive audience at this point.

Billboard: $250 a month unlimited impressions

Rotate up to 10 billboard banners. This spot is where most stations display their logo, market slogan, etc., but it can be sold as a premium banner placement. It is the largest ad space on the player and commands the most attention. It is to the right of the actual player controls and information display.

Extra-Large Banner: $75 a month unlimited impressions

Rotate up to 10 extra-large banners located on the lower, right-hand side of the player. This is the largest banner space on the player. Displays by itself.

Large Banner: $50 a month unlimited impressions

Rotate up to 10 large banners located on the lower, right-hand side of the player. This is the next largest banner space on the player. Displays with a small banner, or if no small banners are available, it displays by itself just as the extra large banner does in the above example.

Dramatic Ad Revenue Shift To Benefit Net Radio, Hurt Terrestrial

A report from eMarketer predicts Internet radio stands to benefit as ad dollars migrate away from the suffering terrestrial radio industry to digital platforms.

Meanwhile, ad revenue for Internet radio is growing and will continue to do so (though the study notes that “those gains are minuscule compared with the billions lost by terrestrial broadcasters”). This year, Internet radio and podcasts will generate $228 million in ad revenue - a 28% growth from last year.

Over the next two years, eMarketer predicts, Net radio and podcasts will experience a growth of 137% to reach $394 million in ad revenues by 2011.

Internet radio is attracting ad dollars for a number of reasons, eMarketer states. Listener numbers are increasing steadily and, with the popularity of smartphones (which are “game changers” for webcasters), listeners are expected to flock to Internet radio even faster. Those listeners tend to be employed, educated, have high household incomes and are young — another plus for advertisers. Finally, Internet radio offers “more options for targeting specific types of consumers and better metrics for measuring ad effectiveness.”

NPR and Livio Moving Forward for Internet Radio

NPR (National Public Radio) and Livio have teamed up to create a revolutionary Internet Radio Device called NPR Radio by Livio.

This device is a standalone internet radio that connects listeners to over 16,000 internet radio stations around the world. It allows you to find NPR stations and programming; whether you’re in your home, office, or even away from your computer…. All you need is a WiFi network.

A great feature of the NPR Radio is that it allows you to find, search, and bookmark NPR stations, podcasts, segments, and content…either by topic or by program.

“At the same time that we were thinking about that younger audience that are adopting all of that new technology, we’re also trying to consider our core audience, which is a fifty-year-old listener,” said NPR director of consumer products and e-commerce Barbara Sopato. “They may not have the iPhone, but they understand the radio, and we were just trying to figure out how to serve them in the digital space where you can get everything, anytime you want it.”

“The real concept here was distribution of audio into something that anyone from any age group or any technological sophistication level could operate,” agreed Livio CEO Jake Sigal.

NPR Radio has no subscription fees or contracts. All you would need to do is set up the device on a WiFi network and you’ll be listening to your favorite content immediately.

Mobile Streaming Hits Highs

According to the recent Arbitron 2009 Radio Today report, News/Talk/Information is still America’s number 1 format with a share of 12.6% of listeners over the age of 12. More people are listening to News/Talk radio via streaming, whether it is from their computer or wireless device.

And speaking of news/talk/information; streaming already accounts for 8-10% of CBS Radio’s total weekly audience, according to an Inside Radio article. These streams are reaching wireless devices too...There have been approximately 7 million downloads for CBS Radio apps on the iPhone, which include AOL Radio and Yahoo! Radio.

CBS Radio CTO Oli Stephenson commented, “The amount of listening taking place on mobile devices (the iPhone, more than any other) is pretty astonishing.” NPR product manager for mobile Demian Perry said, “Mobile is a way to grow NPR and commercial radio to larger audiences and to new listeners. It could be as big as [over-the-air] radio someday.”

Bridge Ratings projects mobile phone radio audiences to reach 40 million by 2015. Bridge Ratings estimates based on current converging trends, that while Internet radio will have 180 million listeners by 2020, 250 million will still be listening to terrestrial radio. Terrestrial radio won’t be abandoned, but more people will be listening to music/news/talk via streams because of the ease of accessibility.