CASE STUDY

Cumulus / Westwood One

OBJECTIVE

The Largest Audio Broadcast Network Wanted to Reach Consumers by Voice at Scale, Fast

Cumulus / Westwood One is the largest audio broadcast network in the U.S. reaching 245 million listeners weekly. The company wanted to bring 300 of its radio stations to Amazon Alexa in about six weeks to be ready in advance of the holiday season 2017. Smart speakers have become the fastest technology adoption in history to reach scale and and Westwood One wanted to offer the largest voice activated audio network.

SOLUTION

A Network of 300 Radio Stations and Hundreds of Syndicated Shows

CONNECT DIRECT / The rise of mobile allowed aggregators to become intermediaries between broadcast audio and their listeners. Voice assistants enabled a direct connection again.

ASK & GET / Voice isn’t like mobile. You should not cram too much into a single voice app. It just makes navigation harder for users. When the voice app is simple, consumers can simply ask for what they want and get it.

PROMOTE / Promotion matters. Your voice app won’t succeed if no one discovers it. Promote access to your content through voice assistants to grow your user base and start forming habits.

LESSONS LEARNED

How to build and award-winning voice app like Bravo Tango

1/ LAUNCH AT SCALE

Alexa skills in particular and voice apps in general don’t necessarily have to take weeks or months to launch. XAPP automated several processes to submit over 100 Alexa skills for certification in a single day and deploy 300 over three weeks.

2/ MANAGE AT SCALE

Voice is not set-it-and-forget-it. Issues arise, changes need to be made, users ask for help. Voice will become a vital channel for engaging consumers and selling goods. That means it must be managed, automated and reliable. XAPP currently supports over 1,000 voice apps.

3/ BECOME A HABIT

Consumers are still determining how voice assistants will fit into their daily lives. As their use of voice rises, they are forming habits around the available solutions. This is why presence on voice assistants is so critical. You cannot become a habit if you are not there.

GET THEM TALKING

To learn more about launching media properties on Alexa and Google Assistant, click the button to speak with a voice expert.