Audience Engagement Tech Usage Skyrockets As WFH Continues

New data from Futuri shows that usage of its audience engagement technology, designed to make it easy for broadcast teams to work remotely and reach listeners wherever they are, has seen huge growth as so many continue to work remotely amid COVID-19 disruptions.

Futuri, which was just named to the Inc 5000 List of America's Fastest-Growing Private Companies for the seventh consecutive year, compared product usage data from the four-month period prior to mid-March coronavirus disruptions to the four-month period since.

• TopicPulse: The AI-driven show prep, story discovery, and social content system has seen a 61% increase in user sessions. The spike in TopicPulse usage, which uses AI to identify which topics and angles that resonate with a specific local audience, was largely tied to content focused on how local communities are responding to coronavirus-related topics.
• POST: As radio adjusts to changing listener habits, podcasting and audio-on-demand production system POST has seen a 27% increase in usage. Much of that growth is driven by stations using its web-based logger feature to help easily time-shift live content, which enables brands to reach and monetize audiences who now operate on a different schedule. Users are also increasing use of video functionality, using POST to instantly convert any audio segment into a video post for social.
• Futuri Streaming: Total listening hours have increased 41% across the group of stations that use Futuri's streaming product as listeners whose normal routines have been disrupted seek new ways to listen to their favorite stations.

Daniel Anstandig

Other Futuri solutions designed to support distributed teams, like sales intelligence system TopLine, have seen double-digit growth since the onset of COVID-19 disruptions.

"We work with thousands of broadcasters, and the creativity and ingenuity we're seeing as teams more deeply embrace technology like ours is inspiring," said Futuri CEO Daniel Anstandig. "Sales and content leaders who adapt to new ways of working productively and reaching audiences and buyers with the right content at the right time will continue to thrive moving forward."

Stations interested in a complimentary consultation on their productivity and distribution strategies can reach out to Futuri for a confidential session at futurimedia.com/consultation.