Southern Cross Austero (SCA) has 99 commercial radio stations, 105 TV channels, over 108 weekly podcasts, 25 music jukebox stations, and more. Listnr teams all of these things together, combining your favourite live local and national radio stations as well as content from partners including the BBC, ESPN, Apple Music and more.
In 2015, SCA found themselves lacking a digital position and wandering without strategy says Grant Blackley (CEO of Southern Cross Austereo and Chair of Commercial Radio Australia). Stations were siloed and unorganised and Sothern Cross had a ‘patchwork quilt’ of access.
Radio does not have a consumption problem but does have a problem with listener access. How can radio stations make content more accessible to listeners?
Content is King but localism and distribution might be Queen. Giving up their physical infrastructure, SCA have pivoted to a digital-first stance by moving means of broadcast to the cloud, using data and analytics to further inform decisions, and launching Listnr. The benefit of audio living in Listnr is data. SCA sell advertising slots in their podcasts at a 20x markup over their radio advertising offerings primarily because there are fewer ad slots available but also because more data is available to the client.
Lisntr enables greater content discovery. People who think they hate radio might download Listnr to hear a SCA podcast only to then stumble upon a SCA radio brand they enjoy. Grant called this the ‘House of Listnr’, as if every station were a room and listeners are wandering the corridor. It’s a ‘personalised, trusted, curated experience’ and Grant can envisage a time where Southern Cross Austereo might one day be called Listnr.
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