iHM: New On Demand Features Won't Hurt Stations

To promote its upcoming paid subscription services, iHeartMedia plans to unleash the power of its full portfolio, from 850 radio stations with well-known national and local personalities, to digital platforms and social media. But the best promotion method, says iHeartRadio president Darren Davis, will come with iHeartRadio users finding it to be an exciting, seamless experience, according to InsideRadio.

“The features and functionality are going to be right there in front of you when you’re using the app,” Davis said. “If you’re listening to KIIS-FM Los Angeles [on iHeartRadio] and you hear a great song, it will be very intuitive how you could save the song to a playlist or replay it right then and there.”

Rather than serving as a replacement for other paid services, iHeartMedia’s new subscription plans—iHeartRadio Plus and iHeartRadio All Access—are being touted as additive and complementary to a Spotify or Apple Music. The idea, said Davis, is to give users more options and more choice. Davis said he doesn’t see any threat to iHeart’s over-the-air audience either, noting that iHeartRadio has only helped build awareness and listening for its stations. So far this year, Davis noted, digital listening is up 30% and broadcast ratings are up 10%. “We think of the app as a safety net to catch extra listening occasions,” Davis added.

The company took a full-throttle promo strategy to launch and build iHeartRadio as well, which now has 84% brand awareness, according to Davis.

For his part, iHeart chairman and CEO Bob Pittman calls the expanded iHeart products a “new era of interactive radio.

“For decades radio has remained the No. 1 medium to reach consumers, fostering a sense of community and engaging listeners through entertaining on-air personalities and curated music and content,” Pittman said in a news release. “While other streaming services have taken a music collection approach to digital streaming, no one has yet built a service incorporating on-demand technology with real live radio—and at a scale that only iHeartMedia can, with its reach of over a quarter of a billion people every month.”