What if you could enjoy a local broadcast radio station’s audio stream without all of the commercials? In the U.K., Absolute Radio has been promoting that to listeners with cheeky announcements. In the U.S., is there a thirst for such an option, given the array of streaming audio selections available to those with internet connectivity?
Auddia says the answer is yes, and it is seeing “better than expected” initial subscription conversion rates for its flagship mobile app.
The Nasdaq-traded developer of a proprietary AI platform for audio and innovative technologies for podcasts that is “reinventing how consumers engage with audio” says it has logged an initial subscription conversion rate of 10% on the iOS version of its flagship mobile app, faidr.
In addition, faidrRadio, the company’s exclusive content programming available in the iOS faidr app, has maintained 33% of the app’s total plays alongside traditional AM/FM radio.
In November, Auddia unveiled a 2023 operating plan in which it aimed to secure a 7% subscription conversion rate by the end of March 2023. Since launching subscriptions in the iOS app 45 days ago, users have been converting at a slightly higher rate.
“We are delighted about the user response we’ve seen in the iOS product,” said Auddia CEO Michael Lawless. “Our goal of delivering premium, ad-free AM/FM alongside exclusive content is resonating nicely. Now that we’ve added podcasts to the iOS app, we feel confident we can maintain or exceed this subscription conversion rate on the product, which puts us ahead of where we need to be in iOS for our metric-inflection point we are targeting mid-year.”
Auddia also previously shared its mid-year conversion targets for the faidr product, with the addition of exclusive content and podcasts to the faidr product and by the end of June 2023 achieve a $1.80 cost-per-install, 10% 30-day retention, and 12% subscription conversion.
The 10% subscription conversion for iOS before the end of Q1 puts that product approximately two months ahead of its planned trajectory to 12%, Auddia says.
Auddia Chief Marketing Officer Theo Romeo commented, “Since launching faidrRadio in iOS, the feature has achieved 33% of the total plays in the app, which has exceeded expectations and highlights the additional value we are delivering to subscribers. After a 30-day trial, faidrRadio and premium, commercial free AM/FM listening are only available through subscription.”
Additionally, Auddia says it has also continued to make significant progress in cost per installs, a top metric for indicating consumer interest in the faidr product. Across the combined iOS and Android platforms, the company is already on track to hit its mid-year target of $1.80.
Auddia will be launching faidrRadio and podcasts in its Android app in early Q2 and plans to update the aggregate subscription conversion rate once that product is at parity with iOS.
Auddia was formerly Clip Interactive and rebranded at the end of 2019.
Of 618 reviews of the app available in the Google Play store, most have been positive. Andrea Babiak commented, “The coolest part about the app is it gets rid of all commercials on all your favorite radio stations. You can listen to stations even from different states not just where you live, which I find pretty awesome!”
On a morning where an Orlando radio station played 11 minutes of commercials and sponsored content before beginning a 90-minute commercial free music sweep, Auddia tackles a much-discussed issue for FM radio — lengthy stop sets.
This could explain the early optimism of those who have created an app that perhaps embraces a model akin to the tiers seen with Video-on-Demand (SVOD and AVOD) services.
The first broadcast radio partner to go on the Auddia platform is Tom Birch-owned Lakes Media. In April 2021, Michael O’Shea-led Amaturo Sonoma Media LLC became the second broadcast partner. Then came the addition of RadioAlabama, and Bluewater Broadcasting. A fall 2021 promotional partnership with the Independent Broadcasters Association was struck.
In May 2022, “strong initial data” from the faidr mobile app’s launch was shared, too.
While the end of 2022 saw the departure of its CFO, Auddia started 2023 with the late January launch of faidrRadio, its exclusive content offering. On February 15, Tim Ackerman was appointed CFO, inbound from Premier Crop Systems, LLC, a venture capital backed and leading precision agronomy data processing and analytics software and services company.
As of March 16, 2016, a faidr iOS app download by RBR+TVBR yielded commercial free capabilities for American General Media stations serving San Luis Obispo, Calif. Additionally, RBR+TVBR‘s headquarters office in Boca Raton, Fla., saw faidr enabled choices from iHeartMedia in Miami and Hubbard Radio in West Palm Beach populate the app, which offers a 30-day trial of its commercial free services with limited music personalization while a station is in a break.
That said, tuning to the faidr-enabled Adult Alternative KKAL-FM “Krush 92.5” eliminated access to local commercials and announcements one might appreciate as a San Luis Obispo County resident. And, the faidr-generated “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” by Simple Minds yielded after the commercial break the exact same song, perhaps unintentially.
Today’s announcement follows the February 23 news that Auddia has filed “a broad and foundational patent application aimed at improving the shortcomings being exposed in existing GPTs,” such as Azure OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard.
