BAYSIDE, CALIFORNIA – All Classical Portland, an independent, non-profit radio station with an FM presence in several Oregon markets, this year celebrates its 30th anniversary on the air. However, the pure-format Classical station – one of the few of its kind remaining – is not resting on its over-the-air laurels.
Streaming media and its monetization is top of mind for Director of New Media Alexander Bighill, who joined All Classical Portland in 2011. Bighill has since expanded to eight streams using StreamGuys’ cloud-based streaming architecture. Online and mobile listeners can choose from two AAC+ and two MP3 streams, further supported with redundant streams via StreamGuys’ robust architecture.
Most recently, the station has added AdsWizz’s Digital Advertising Monetization Platform for audio pre-roll injections. StreamGuys offers the AdsWizz platform as an integrated service for broadcasters and audio publishers seeking to generate revenue and monetize streams through targeted content delivery.
“We have a strong sense of place and love the music we play. We’re passionate about sharing this with the rest of the world, and StreamGuys helped us increase online listenership with the reliability of its global infrastructure,” said Bighill. “Online streaming can be fun and exciting, but sometimes that’s not enough of a reason to justify the money that goes into the technology. StreamGuys recommended AdsWizz when it came time to directly monetize our streams.”
Bighill reports that the AdsWizz service is reliable and hassle-free, with new audio files added to the pre-roll rotations over a simple user interface. The station is approaching ad insertion with simplicity to start, injecting in-house-produced pre-rolls as users initiate streams. Bighill expects pre-roll sales to escalate as more listeners and businesses become familiar with the service.
All Classical Portland also utilizes business software from both companies to strategize future growth opportunities. This includes StreamGuys’ SGMon and SGReports analytical tools, with the former producing weekly listenership overviews for comparison to Arbitron terrestrial audience reports. Bighill adds that SGReports offers “an insane amount of detail” about when and how listeners tune in. AdsWizz brings additional value with pertinent information on pre-roll impressions.
His overall impression is that streaming media is vital to the public media space, and that it’s time to take advantage of robust, multi-format delivery and cutting-edge technologies such as the AdsWizz platform.
“It should be no surprise that internet-based media is more than a fad,” said Bighill. “The ability to deliver our broadcast worldwide is a huge advantage because the ratio of terrestrial listeners versus online listeners will inevitably continue to shift. To help offset technological investments, new ways of generating revenue are also needed. The average internet user realizes that a 10-second message is preferable to a subscription service, and that’s where services like AdsWizz are helpful.”
About AdsWizz
AdsWizz provides ad serving and audience analytics technologies to CDNs, agencies, ad networks and online audio publishers. Its audience analytics product delivers publishers with real-time and actionable metrics on their audience behavior. AdsWizz ad serving technology enables agencies and ad networks to create online advertising campaigns across audio, video and display formats with social media integration. The ad serving technology gives online audio publishers the ability to monetize all their online content such as Simulcast, webcast or Podcast; Web, Mobile or In-dash; and domestic or international. AdsWizz serves its customers from its San Francisco, Denver, Paris, Brussels and Bucharest offices. For more information, visit www.adswizz.com.
About StreamGuys, Inc.
In business since 2000, StreamGuys is a provider of audio and video streaming toolsets and services. The company has a reputation for outstanding customer service, a robust and reliable network, and competitive rates. More than 600 clients worldwide, across many industries, depend on their mission-critical service. Projects include serving as the technology backbone for live streaming/podcasting for top public broadcasters such as New York Public Radio, WAMU Washington D.C., KQED San Francisco and WXPN Philadelphia; live video events for major auto racing circuits and the British Royal Wedding; audio streaming for government entities such as D.C. Court of Appeals, U.S. Army, and the National Science Foundation; mobile video content for Cisco Systems; and IPTV content for international broadcaster ABS-CBN.
