iHeartRadio Updated App Makes Finding Talk Easier

With most people listening to talk radio on the go, iHeartRadio -- the digital arm of radio giant Clear Channel -- figured its mobile apps should make finding the talk easier.

According to cnet.com, updates to the apps Monday add a directory for talk content so users can browse and select from drop-down categories; a side navigation pull-out screen; and the ability to customize and access Live and Custom Station preset favorites. The updates get talk content more quickly to listeners' ears where people are looking for digital radio most -- on their phones.

Unsurprisingly, with most online radio listening is moving to mobile devices, 60 percent of people listening to iHeartRadio Talk since its beta launch in late July are doing so with a portable device, the company said.

iHeart Radio's app updates will be available for iOS on Monday and on Thursday for Android, including the Kindle.

It's the latest maneuver by an online radio challenger to Pandora that tests out weak spots in the armor of the biggest online radio service in the US. With about 72 million active users a month, Pandora dominates online radio listening. By comparison, the monthly unique visitors to iHeartRadio are less than one-fourth that level, according to figures from ComScore, and iHeartRadio is one of the closest competitors.

Yet Pandora's strongest suit has always been music, going back to its origins with the Music Genome Project that catalogs songs by their musical DNA to make recommendations. Clear Channel's long history with talk radio provided iHeart a way to attract an audience that the online leader in radio wasn't as well equipped to woo.

And that audience was already tuning in: Before the dedicated talk feature launched, talk content already accounted for 25 percent of iHeartRadio listening, compared to about 16 percent of terrestrial radio listening.

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