Natacha Mercure, Première Directrice Audionumérique at Radio Canada opened by explaining their digital strategy for French speaking radio in Canada. They found lots of their content was being shared on platforms like Apple Podcasts without monetisation. So they had to make sure their app provided value to the listener.
Over time they completely changed the broadcast time to convert regular listeners and attract new listeners – for example people using their platform, OhDio, got to hear podcasts before they were broadcast on air or other platforms. This worked and they had a 120% increase in listening. They also noted listening habits were different through content on the app – for example 63% of listening happens within a month of release and people would binge content, similar to how platforms like Netflix work.
Christelle Mace, Managing Director, digital marketing & distribution at Radio France talked about how visual interfaces may become less important as voice command in cars connected to apps rises. It’s also important to create benefits for people using your platform and to continue to talk about the apps on air. Furthermore we must be ethical about the data we use but make any data collection beneficial to listeners – for example by giving them personal recommendations.
Christian Schalt, Chief Digital Officer at RTL spoke about creating AUDIO NOW – which is now Germany’s biggest audio platform. It is curated and entertainment driven with a focus on young people – this sets it apart from platforms like Apple. Most big publishers distribute their content on AUDIO NOW with the deal being that in exchange the publishers are given access to their data.
“Podcasts are still a metropolitan thing” says Schalt, something his data confirms. This being said “podcasting is becoming more and more mainstream”
Overall, if you want to create an app to move people away from Spotify and Apple Podcasts you need to find a way to give value to your audience they won’t get elsewhere.
