Search the site...

  phil mora
  • The Global Nomad
  • About
  • Contact
  • The Training Log
  • The Global Nomad
  • About
  • Contact
  • The Training Log

The Global Nomad
(Doer edition)

Follow

Hybrid radio is just jelli ...

5/3/2012

0 Comments

 
At NAB two weeks ago, it was clear that broadcasters view internet radio as complementary to their broadcast offering. Jelli is an interesting approach.
Picture


[Reproduced from pandodaily/Erin Griffith]
Pandora Has a Monetization Problem That Streaming Hybrid Jelli Cleverly Solves

Yes, it’s incredible that Pandora has grabbed more than 4% (by Pandora’s metrics) of terrestrial radio listening. But that took 12 years, and even with listening hours growing each quarter, the company doesn’t have enough advertisers on board to turn a profit. Because of that, it is in a desperate fight to draw ad dollars from traditional radio. As of now, the score is approximately $17 billion (broadcast radio) to $800 million (internet radio).

The other issue Pandora has is one of bandwidth. The majority of the company’s listening hours now come from mobile devices, but if even half of the traditional radio listeners switched over to mobile streaming for a few minutes, the entire network would crash. Put simply, terrestrial radio has become an incredibly outdated way to advertise–it’s fragmented and offers zero targeting (beyond region) and zero ways to measure effectiveness. But it’s still the simplest, cheapest most efficient way to broadcast.

Over the summer, I came across a company taking a unique hybrid approach to this problem. It’s a radio startup called Jelli. The company installs a server in a local radio station’s broadcast tower. It then begins broadcasting music on new radio stations that require no DJ, infrastructure, or ad sales team. Programming is completely determined by voting from Jelli users. The site and app are a bit like Turntable.fm with its elements of group listening, voting, and chat. But they’re played via broadcast, and the stations are accessible from a radio, web or a smartphone, founder Michael Dougherty explained.

Today the company announced an important element to its business model: Real time ads. They’re unique in that the feedback loop on Jelli is closed. Meaning, if there’s a call to action on a traditional spot radio ad, who knows if it is effective? Who knows who even heard it? But if a Jelli ad says, “download our app now,” with a display ad and audio messaging, Jelli can actually tell advertisers that 5% of viewers downloaded that app. Jelli’s new ads feature anything from store finders for large retailers to local daily deals.

Currently the dominant player offering to close the feedback loop in streaming audio ads is Targetspot, which is like an ad network for online radio. Anyone from TheFuture.fm to Slacker Radio uses it.

Jelli is different because it’s delivered via terrestrial radio. More than 80% of its users listen via FM, so they’re not using wireless bandwidth. Which means only 20% actually use the feedback loop, but Dougherty says that is still attractive to advertisers because right now they have zero visibility. “Any feedback they can receive is very helpful for them to test ad copy, or simply provide some data to discuss with their client how the radio campaign went,” he said. Right now 650,000 users listen to 14 million hours of Jelli radio a month, Dougherty said.

Ironically, it has the exact opposite problem that Pandora and Spotify have. Those services have too many listeners and not enough ads. For Jelli, it’s backward: The demand for ads far outstrips inventory, with more advertisers hungry to buy ads than there are listening hours to run them. “We’re significantly oversold,” Dougherty said. “We have millions of dollars of demand, and we’re in the process of talking to big radio groups around partnering to expand rapidly to satisfy interest.” Nice problem to have.San Mateo-based Jelli has backing from Intel Capital, Battery Ventures, First Round Capital, Triple Point Capital and a long list of angels.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    i blog about the things I love: fitness, hacking work, tech, Experiences and anything holistic.

    Picture

    Phil Mora

    > Head of Digital  Product at Nutrien
    > I am passionate about delivering products and technologies that change people's lives
    ​> I look forward to connecting with you!

    Categories

    All
    Change Agents
    Experiences
    Fitness
    Hacking Work
    Technology

    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    October 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010

    RSS Feed

Phil Mora . 2225 E Bayshore Road . Palo Alto, CA 94393
Phone: (415) 315-9787 . twitter
@philippemora . Instagram philippemora


Copyright © 1999-2020 Philippe Mora