As radio moves further into the digital and interactive realms, it is finding new advertising opportunities as well. Companies such as Quu Interactive are helping push radio into this new world of interactivity. Earlier this month, Quu acquired the license for Jump2Go’s JumpGate RDS and HD Radio solutions and the two companies are now partnering to expand the interactive abilities of RDS technology. Quu CEO Lynn Bruder and Jump2Go Founder Allen Hartle both spoke to FMQB recently about the possibilities that RDS and mobile technology hold and where radio advertising is heading in the future.
By Joey Odorisio
Lynn Bruder & Allen Hartle
As radio moves further and further into the digital and interactive realms,
Quu Interactive is helping bridge these worlds together. Earlier this month,
Quu announced it had acquired the license for Jump2Go’s JumpGate RDS and HD Radio solutions, as well as becoming an investor in the company that invented iTunes Tagging technology. The companies are now partnering to expand the interactive abilities of RDS technology. Quu CEO Lynn Bruder and Jump2Go Founder Allen Hartle both spoke to FMQB recently about the possibilities that RDS and mobile technology hold for radio and advertising and where radio advertising is heading in the future.
Quu Interactive essentially offers full-service digital packages for radio. And expanding the capabilities of RDS is a part of that, correct?
Lynn Bruder: Yes, correct. Quu’s platform integrates with radio allowing them to make their content available simultaneously on the air, on mobile, on the web and now in the car. This creates new revenue opportunities by allowing stations to make over-the-air ads interactive and available on web, mobile and RDS and HD Radio. It’s a 360° solution. As part of our strategy we decided to complete our solution by extending the advertising information to the car dash, namely on RDS and HD Radio. Quu’s solution suite includes products for interactive advertising, interactive programming, coupons and consumer engagement. The combination of in-car display, mobile applications and radio station playlist webpages, creates Quu’s Advertising Network
Talk about the advertising possibilities that RDS offers.
LB: Let’s talk about Radio text, as it incorporates both RDS and HD Radio. Quu has created a powerful Radio Text management system giving stations tremendous flexibility in controlling what goes on the RDS and HD Radio displays. This includes advertising messages. These messages can accompany ads as they air, or can be displayed independently, in rotation with music artist and title. Messages can be specialized by time, daypart, day of the week, date, etc. This gives radio the ability to monetize the RDS and HD Radio asset by selling advertisers space either during music, jock talk or a commercial stop-set. It’s like a billboard on the dash. Additionally, with our partners Jump2Go, we are capable of displaying graphics during commercials on HD Radios equipped with Artist Experience.
Allen Hartle: The big breakthrough that Quu really represents is the interactive capabilities of consumer electronics, specifically what you’re hearing when it comes to songs, commercials and promos. Suppose you have a smart phones that with an FM radio in it. The listener is able to hear a commercial and click on a hyperlink to be taken to the advertiser’s Website. It’s literally a chance for radio stations to add enormous value to what they’d previously been doing, [which was] only playing the audio. With RDS, it’s an FM carrier technology that puts information through the radio, but at the same time, Quu’s server site processes and keeps track of information specific to the advertisements. A radio station suddenly becomes the enabler between the advertiser and all these consumers who potentially interact with a commercial.
One way to look at it is with the demise of the Yellow Pages, it’s almost as if radio stations in the future can become this community advertising hub, where the radio station’s website can become a portal for that. The broadcaster can play commercials that you hear on the radio and that you can interact with on a smart device. Then the radio station can hold a directory of all the commercials that they play, and can tell their listeners “come to our website to learn more about our advertisers,” and they’ll really provide interactive services that small businesses or local businesses really can never provide for themselves.
LB: Radio reaches over 90 percent of the population in the U.S.; it’s a powerful medium. Integrating the Web, Mobile, RDS and HD Radio within the same system brings attention, scale and money to the industry. Listeners are tuned to stations all day long at their desks, in car and on their mobile device. Quu’s goal is to create a network integrating all these assets creating new topline revenue opportunities for radio, a better listener experience and a better approach for advertisers.
How many stations are currently using Quu’s technology?
LB: The Beasley radio group is fully integrated, and we’re currently integrating other groups that will be announced in the coming weeks.
Where do you see the merging of radio and digital technology heading?
AH: Let’s face it, there’s a battle going on for the dashboard in cars. You might have seen at CES [Consumer Electronics Show] that Toyota will have touch screen panels in the car where there is not only a button for radio, but there’s an on-screen display that leads the driver to Pandora or iHeartRadio. It’s imperative that we create interactivity, so that radio goes along for the ride as consumers progress into smarter types of personal electronics.
There are these major conversations going on about what the dashboard is going to look like. I did some work with the Tesla car company, and their newest car coming out has a 14-inch vertical touch screen in it. And that is the control service for your in-car experience. So it’s the software developers designing the car interface, now they’re going to decide: is there a CD player? Is there an HD radio? Is there RDS? Are there streaming services like Pandora? New people are making the decisions about what the consumers are going to experience when it comes to our medium.
It’s interesting because the technology companies and the automakers are making these decisions about the future of radio for the broadcasters, instead of Clear Channel and CBS making these choices.
AH: Exactly. When I’m holding my iPhone in my hand, many of my entertainment decisions are coming from the apps that I’m sporting on this device. Now, hopefully one day the iPhone will activate its internal radio, but other smart phones already have FM radios built into them. And with a technology like Bluetooth that could basically let your smart device push the audio from your smart phone to your car amplifier and speakers. I see a time coming down the pike where the car has nothing but an amplifier and speakers, and all of your decisions about music are coming from the phone you’re holding in your hands.
We have to realize that we’re in a race to provide and make radio as attractive and interesting as these Internet-based services that my children’s generation are growing up on. Our generation grew up putting tape decks and then fancy stereos in our cars. Our children’s generation is growing up with handheld device that does everything they want. Companies like Jump2Go exist to encourage our broadcasting customers to embrace the newest technical consumer trends and therefore stay relevant.
[eQB Content by Joey Odorisio]
