Case Study: More than Broadcast: How A Major Media Group Turns Listeners into Communities
The Challenge: Delivering an engaging experience to dedicated listeners
Cox Media Group (CMG) faced the evolving challenge of keeping their radio audience engaged in an increasingly competitive digital landscape where smartphones dominate media consumption. They needed to provide more value to their dedicated listeners who had taken the first crucial step of downloading their station apps.
For Tyler Moody, Director of Digital Content Radio at CMG, the primary goal with the Futuri Mobile v12 upgrade was straightforward but powerful: “To give our users more.”
This wasn’t about simply duplicating their website experience in an app. Instead, CMG wanted to deliver a richer, more interactive extension of their radio brands that aligned perfectly with their broadcast identity.
“We haven’t duplicated the websites entirely, but there’s a lot of functionality and flexibility there for us to provide more experiences, more content, more engagement with our audiences,” explains Moody.
The Solution: Building Community Through Interactive Features
As one of the first broadcast groups to adopt Futuri Mobile v12, CMG leveraged the platform’s enhanced capabilities to transform their mobile strategy across markets, focusing on creating deeper brand connections beyond just streaming audio.
This strategy aligns perfectly with today’s media consumption habits. According to Edison Research, 90% of Americans now own a smartphone, and 76% of people who listen to AM/FM radio also stream audio weekly (Edison Research, The Infinite Dial 2024).
CMG embraced Open Mic & User Uploads, standout features in Futuri Mobile v12 that allow listeners to send audio, photos, and videos directly to stations. This capability has proven valuable in multiple scenarios:
- Weather coverage by news stations
- Emergency reporting, such as when listeners submitted photos and videos of a brush fire on a Long Island highway
- Community sharing moments, like Atlanta residents sending snow pictures during rare snowfalls
These submissions create a feedback loop that drives engagement: “We’re able to turn it around into photo galleries that people then come back to and consume,” says Moody.
The Results: More Than Just Listening
“The nice surprise has been that everybody is using our apps more,” notes Moody. “Creating a little more community extension from the broadcast signal to what’s happening within the app.”
Since implementing Futuri Mobile v12 in December 2024, CMG has experienced:
- Increased app sessions following the rollout
- Enhanced audience engagement through community photo and video sharing capabilities
- Strengthened community connections during major weather events and local happenings
The Mobile App as Modern Radio Preset
In today’s media landscape, station-specific mobile apps serve a crucial strategic purpose for CMG. As Moody puts it, “Telling people to have our app on their phone is the modern version of telling people to program a button on their car radio.”
Rather than pursuing a single-app strategy for all stations, CMG maintains individual branded apps for each station. This approach:
- Motivates each station to deliver valuable experiences specific to their audience
- Keeps the brand “top of mind” on listeners’ phone screens
- Creates a unique digital hub for each station’s community
Looking Forward: Creating a Controlled Media Environment
As social platforms increasingly keep users within their own ecosystems, CMG recognizes the importance of creating engaging experiences within their owned media channels. The Futuri Mobile platform provides this foundation while offering room for future enhancements.
The Bottom Line
For CMG, Futuri Mobile represents more than just a technical upgrade; it’s a strategic investment in evolving audience relationships. By providing more content, more engagement opportunities, and more value to their P1 listeners, CMG stations are building stronger communities around their brands.
