By Scott Lindy, Futuri Partner Success Team

We’re all aware of the massive increase in the percentage of people working from their homes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. What you may have missed, is the recent Nielsen data that shows that adult consumers aged 18+ streaming audio on smartphones increased from 50% every week in Q1 of 2019 to 64% in Q2 of 2020. Of course, that data counts podcasting as well as broadcast radio.

What that data doesn’t take into account is radio stations without their own mobile app. We know that a listener can get to your website via mobile phone or web browser to stream your station, and your stream might be available on an aggregator. But hey, if they’re willing to work that hard to hear your content on their mobile phone, why not give them that and more with a station-branded mobile app?

Without a station mobile app, here’s just some of what you’re missing besides the opportunity to get your audio streaming into the hands of listeners.

Getting Your Brand Into Connected Cars
Yeah, it’s a brave new world created by Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Although many consumers are unfamiliar with how a mobile app works in a connected car, if they have one, user adoption has started. The race is on! Your listeners’ acceptance and growth of these platforms will only grow and move faster in the coming months and years. If your mobile app can’t get your brand and content onto connected car screens right now, be prepared to play catch up for a long time. Your station’s image grows when you’re able to promote your app’s availability for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto — don’t forget about the real estate your brand gets on the connected dash when you have your own app! — but it’s also critical to remember that this is a new tech space for users. Hold their hand and make it easy for them to launch your app in their car. Creating fun videos and graphics with simple to follow instructions that listeners can easily find on your app is a must. Can your app do that? It should.

Mobile Access to On-Demand Audio and Podcasts
Recent industry studies show that nearly two-thirds of all on-demand audio is listened to on a mobile device. That means radio personalities who regularly create podcasts could possibly achieve their full potential of reach and growth by making their episodes available on major platforms like Apple Podcasts or Spotify but at what cost to your station’s brand? Your station’s mobile app should be the single most promoted destination and point of access for the on-demand audio you generate. In this case, no station app equals diminishing brand awareness amongst podcast listeners. A trend difficult to reverse.

Mobile Data!
Usage of mobile devices is far different and usually more frequent than desktop and laptop computers. Tracking your users most frequently used features in your app allows you to shape your strategy for how you’ll generate and promote in-app content and provide data to clients for premium advertising spaces. Tracking everything from pre-roll video views, notification click-throughs and contest entries to on-demand plays, custom features and exclusive ‘in-app only’ content is just the beginning of understanding what your station’s fans like about your app and how you can get yours in front of a bigger audience with the right message.

Generating Revenue
You’re giving up revenue streams that continue to grow at a record pace by not offering mobile streaming audio and video pre-roll. With a mobile app, you can easily display advertising within your apps’ most frequented pages and features, and you can sell naming rights to different sections, and/or the app itself. Mobile advertising assets for a client can also include on-air mentions, website presence, and social media posts. But wait, there’s more! Think of the advertising opportunities made possible within app-exclusive content like exclusive on-demand audio, push notifications, weather alerts, app only contesting, and in-app alerts. Without a mobile app, your station leaves significant listener engagement opportunities on the table and the revenue that goes with it. Bonus: you keep 100% of the revenue you generate.

Going Beyond Your Music Stream With Cool App Features
If there’s anything we can all relate to, it’s those three or four apps we find ourselves using more than the others. When your radio station has a mobile app, you have the opportunity to build a digital bridge that stretches the palm of your fan’s hands to the personalities and music they love on your station. There’s a growing number of things you can only do with a mobile app to build connections with your fans. Features like Futuri Mobile’s Open Mic, which lets users record and share their voices on the air. In-app Flash Contesting from Futuri Mobile was created just for mobile users — say goodbye to caller 9 contests, which are a terrible experience for everyone except caller 9! Push notifications that speak to the targeted content you know your listeners want like weather and traffic alerts, new music about to play on the air, exclusive interviews only available (or available first) in the app. Whatever your listeners love the most about your station can become bigger and more personal to your fans when you use mobile app features in ways only your brand’s creative team can dream up.

No station app means diminishing brand awareness among podcast listeners — and that’s a trend difficult to reverse. Get started now, with Futuri Mobile, by filling out the form below.