Newstalk

How we increased Newstalk’s online listenership five-fold

Background:

Newstalk prides itself in providing the freshest, wittiest and most challenging programming on the Irish airwaves. The current website had made good use of podcasts and news integration, but offered little interactivity and no blog/publishing functionality. ICAN identified the opportunity for Newstalk to become a live conversation space and set about providing a platform to faciliate that.

Project:

ICAN developed a platform for growth of users and revenue. We configured the site to place discoverable, relevant content appropriately. We also trained each of the shows and presenters to publish online as part of their daily workflow. Shows like The Right Hook, Moncrieff and the Breakfast Show with Ivan and Claire all benefited from another layer of audience interaction.

This project also included the following:

• Media player with Live Stream and Listen Back functionality (last 7 days of shows archived)
• Live event widget functionality (used to stream Budget 2010 & integrate Twitter, Facebook and user comments)
• Integrated podcasts (play from website, publish once to website and to iTunes)
• Video integration (using Muzu.tv API)
• Blog & commenting systems for all shows, DJs and presenters
• Galleries, polls and voting systems
• Newstalk Nation members’ area & email marketing system integration
• Microsite creation functionality for in-house design teams

Results:

• Online Listeners up a massive 499% (YoY)
• 115% increase in unique users (i.e. unique users doubled)
• 147% increase in PIPM (page impressions per month)