We asked streaming/webcasting vendors in the radio broadcasting biz to explain their latest offerings and revenue models. We want stations to know if they’re getting the best deal currently with their provider and if they’re not streaming, which service would be best for them. We also asked a about their other offerings—like how they help stations in making it easier to produce and place ads, how their service is better than their competitors and, lastly, which and how many clients they have.
The respondents:
Jason Vosburgh, Marketing Director, Abacast
Karen Fitzgerald, Marketing Supervisor, Triton Digital
David Palmer, VP Sales and Marketing, MainstreamNetwork
Brittany Bullock, Manager, Customer Relations, VOPED
How do you help stations in making it easier to produce and place web and streaming audio ads?
Vosburgh: Abacast’s Clarity™ Ad Management System makes it easy for our customers to place streaming audio ads, pre-roll video ads, and display ads on the desktop and mobile players. Because Clarity™ is cloud-based, it is easy to deploy and use while supporting complex advertising campaigns such as daypart scheduling, flight scheduling, ad prioritization, and frequency capping. The system automatically adjusts ad sound quality with no skips, jarring volume changes, or dead-air, so the broadcaster doesn’t need to worry about varying ad lengths or volume fluctuations when uploading and scheduling the ads in the system.
In addition, Abacast offers free digital ad sales training and ad product development or in-house digital sales efforts. The ad programs developed from this training can be easily entered into the Abacast system, are scalable for in-house teams to sell, and come complete with brandable digital sales and marketing tools.
Fitzgerald: With the most flexible scheduler available on the market, deliver spots using one or more flights, along with one or more dayparts, just like an on-air schedule. Add multiple pieces of creative to a single campaign then change them out at any time and watch the impression and spot play counts for each creative show up separately on proof of performance reports.
Palmer: Our tech support does all the work for you, simply email us the ad and we insert it for you.
Bullock: The VOPED platform allows online publishers to easily upload video and audio files that can be delivered at any point in a recorded video or audio stream through cue points that the publisher can choose.
How is your service better than your competitors?
Vosburgh: Abacast has an unmatched focus on streaming profitability for broadcasters of all sizes. Clarity™ packages feature no-charge digital sales training and our digital radio ad solution that is enabling broadcasters of all sizes to be profitable in streaming. (Detailed case studies are featured on our website.) We offer multiple ad sales partners, consisting primarily of national advertisers, to back-fill the sale of unsold streaming and pre-roll video inventory. Our advanced targeting has shown to provide revenue to broadcasters at least 50% greater than non-targeted inventory.
The Clarity™ Digital Radio System provides the most value for broadcasters. A modern, cloud-based, easy-to-use system, Clarity™ has been shown to require less training and require less resources than competing solutions. Training for sales, trafficking and programming is included at no extra charge. Broadcasters can exceed their contracted monthly listening hour packages by up to 50% with no additional charges, enabling them to focus on growing their online audiences without worrying day to day about streaming costs.
Abacast products have been built by Abacast to work well together, eliminating integration and support risk found in multi-vendor solutions.
Finally, we learned long ago that the online radio market, as it moves into the digital space, demands high quality support services. Digital is still new to many of our customers, requiring high quality support for technical issues, digital sales, and digital ad trafficking. Abacast has invested heavily in its support team and tools to help make our services run smoothly and enable our customers to focus on what they do best—servicing their ad customers and building their audiences. We’ve been serving the online radio market for 12 years; chances are we’ve seen your problem before and have the knowledge to fix it.
Fitzgerald: Triton Digital offers a true end-to-end platform that allows publishers to distribute high-performing streaming content, get comprehensive audience analytics, and deliver high-value advertising, all while focusing on the best user experience.
Palmer: MainstreamNetwork has been in business for 13 years providing streaming service to thousands of stations. We are the only streaming company that provides 247 tech support with the most competitive rates in the industry.
Bullock: VOPED sets itself apart by being the forward thinking online video platform. The VOPED platform is under constant development, rolling out features, all of which are delivered at the starting price, including Pay Per View, Live Streaming and ad delivery. There is no stripped down lower cost model, and VOPED offers the best customer service in the business.
Can you tell us what clients you have/how many?
Vosburgh: The Abacast Clarity™ Digital Radio System is currently in-use by over 300 customers and over 1,000 stations and is being used by companies like Federated Media, Main Line Broadcasting, Spanish Broadcasting Systems, Three Eagles Communications, and many more.
Fitzgerald: We are proud to have over 7,000 affiliates. Triton Digital currently serves 43 out of the top 50 broadcasters. A few clients that we are proud to be associated with are Cumulus, Pandora, Clear Channel, CBS Radio, NPR Digital, Entercom, Slacker, Prisa Radio.
Palmer: 5,030
Bullock: Leesburg Today, George Mason University, PFI Western, TNA Wrestling, Grab Networks and various resellers are among some of VOPED’s clients.
Hat Tip To: The Radio HORN
