Month: January 2016

Categories
Mobile Apps

Nielsen Enables Your Mobile App

By: Bob Kernen

As 2016 gets started, the opportunities for monetizing your mobile strategy continue to proliferate.

One of the biggest changes for radio in the digital space in 2015: the Nielsen SDK. Nielsen has embraced new radio listening patterns by releasing software that, when added to web and mobile players measures that listening and can add it to overall ratings as part of a “single line” reporting methodology.

jācapps was the first mobile company to have its platform certified for the Nielsen SDK and since the first half of the year we’ve enabled dozens of stations for Nielsen’s tracking system.

If your station is in one of the top 50 Nielsen rated markets (and soon beyond the top 50), you are eligible for single line reporting, and to have your web and mobile metrics included in your ratings. If your branded mobile app is on jācapps’ V4 platform, just contact us and we can work with you and Nielsen to have your app properly enabled to begin getting those vital ratings.

No longer will you have to worry about promoting digital listening for fear of losing a meter, in fact you turn every new digital listener into a measurable one. Of course that means that you can now turn your mobile listening into the currency you need to drive new sources of revenue.

This new SDK can help you measure all that new listening, and that re-captured listening that is now happening at the gym, at home and in all those places where radios aren’t. And with the coming adjustments to streaming rates, you can drive users to your stream without any fear.

Making your V4 app Nielsen enabled costs only $75/month. Contact Alex Burnstein or me at 248-353-9030, or email sales@jacapps.com.

Categories
Uncategorized

Live365 Forced to Call it Quits

One of the oldest streaming radio service providers has informed its current broadcasters that it is shutting down at the end of the month.  Whether it was for hobby or for business, Live365 was home to just about anyone who wanted to start their own internet radio station. Changing royalty rules, especially the expiration of the Webcaster Settlement Act of 2009, and the loss of long-time investors were the reasons for the shutdown.

A quote currently circulating from the email reads: “We are sad that we are closing our doors at the end of this month.  There are always possibilities that we can come back in one form or another, but at this point in time, January 31, 2016 is the last day that Live365’s streaming servers and website will be maintained and supported.”

With the shutdown of Live365 comes the realization for a wide range of online programming, which Live365 supported, that they will have to find a new place to call home or be dealt the same fate as Live365.  The new royalty rates seem so out of reach that many of these small broadcasters may have to call it quits altogether.  However, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

jācapps is working with StreamGuys, to help former Live365 clients reach their audience.  StreamGuys has the experience, tools, and resources to successfully deliver streaming media for large and small businesses and jācapps can provide the mobile app crucial for reaching the audience where they live — on their smartphones.

To learn more about our mobile solutions, make sure to visit our Products page.

Categories
Connected Car Mobile Apps Radio

Radio & Cars – Like Peanut Butter and Jelly

American radio and the car industry have more in common than most people would initially think.  Throughout the 20th century there were many challenges both these industries faced but they have survived and thrived, proving they are both highly profitable legacy industries.  However, despite their ability to adapt, they are facing millions of Millennials who aren’t as interested in their products as older generations.  Both automakers and radio operators are watching them gravitating away from their respective businesses.

Digital technologies are taking over about every aspect of our everyday lives, and this is no different with automobiles and radio.  A new era in digital technology has emerged, leaving both automotive and radio to seek out new employees with skill sets that have nothing to do with their businesses historically.  With the rise in this technology comes a new set of competitors that automakers would have never thought to be opponents.  Companies such as Google and Apple are competing for a spot on the user’s dashboard, while radio broadcasters were slow to understand challenges posed by Pandora, Spotify, and SiriusXM.

One thing is for sure – things aren’t what they used to be.  And that’s why it’s fascinating for our company to watch what many automakers are now doing to face these challenges, while wondering whether radio couldn’t go down a similar road.  This is not to say the auto industry has it all figured out, because many of their executives will tell you that these next five years are as impossible to predict as the previous five.

To read more about the industry wide disruption, click here.

Categories
Connected Car Mobile Apps Radio

Radio & Cars – Like Peanut Butter and Jelly

American radio and the car industry have more in common than most people would initially think.  Throughout the 20th century there were many challenges both these industries faced but they have survived and thrived, proving they are both highly profitable legacy industries.  However, despite their ability to adapt, they are facing millions of Millennials who aren’t as interested in their products as older generations.  Both automakers and radio operators are watching them gravitating away from their respective businesses.

Digital technologies are taking over about every aspect of our everyday lives, and this is no different with automobiles and radio.  A new era in digital technology has emerged, leaving both automotive and radio to seek out new employees with skill sets that have nothing to do with their businesses historically.  With the rise in this technology comes a new set of competitors that automakers would have never thought to be opponents.  Companies such as Google and Apple are competing for a spot on the user’s dashboard, while radio broadcasters were slow to understand challenges posed by Pandora, Spotify, and SiriusXM.

One thing is for sure – things aren’t what they used to be.  And that’s why it’s fascinating for our company to watch what many automakers are now doing to face these challenges, while wondering whether radio couldn’t go down a similar road.  This is not to say the auto industry has it all figured out, because many of their executives will tell you that these next five years are as impossible to predict as the previous five.

To read more about the industry wide disruption, click here.

Categories
Mobile Apps Wearables

Apple Watch, Wearables, and Your Mobile Strategy

By: Bob Kernen

The past few years at this time of year we’ve communicated with our clients and others just how important the recently concluded holidays are when it comes to your mobile strategy. We’ve been diligent about reminding you that lots and lots of people opened packages with new smartphones in them, and that you should be sure that your brand is well-represented and that your listeners know they can add your station’s branded app to their smartphone.

For this past holiday season, however, we want to also remind you that there was likely another goodie wrapped up for good boys and girls: a smart watch. It was probably be a nifty new AppleWatch, but it could also have been any number of other “wearables” that are emerging as the next big movement in digital devices.

Even all the way back in 2014 when just a few Android watches were available, the market sold 6.8M of them. With Apple entering the scene, the numbers have jumped dramatically. The new AppleWatch did $1.7B in sales through end of the 3rd quarter of 2015, accounting for over 3M units in less than six months. And the forecasts are stratospheric with 40% of US consumers interested in buying a smart watch. The estimate for the wearables market was 45.7M units in 2015, growing to 126.1M in 2019. By 2018, this will be a $19 billion market.

That is why jācapps has announced our “App Everywhere℠” strategy. Apps have broken out of the smartphone and are now showing up … everywhere. If your station has one of our V4 apps, we will be offering to enable it for the AppleWatch, and throughout 2016 we will be offering support for more and more new platforms, including other wearables, smart TVs and cars.

So now, as millions of consumers are strapping on their new wearables you should be thinking about your mobile strategy and how to use all of these new mobile, digital platforms to build your brand and drive revenue.

If you want to learn more about App Everywhere℠ or how to upgrade your mobile strategy to jācapps V4 platform, call Alex Burnstein or me at 248-353-9030, or email sales@jacapps.com.

For more ways to add monetization to your mobile strategy get our white paper on “Monetizing Mobile.”