TuneIn Radio revamps app to add stations, easier access
A big revamp on the app TuneIn Radio adds more stations and makes them easier to find along with feeds showing you the latest new content.
TuneIn Radio CEO John Donham with the revamped TuneIn app.(Photo: Jefferson Graham)
LOS ANGELES — Take an app that has 50 million monthly listeners and access to 100,000 radio stations and 4,000 podcasts, and you'd think TuneIn Radio would be a household name, right?[1]
It's not yet, but if CEO John Donham has his way, the revamp of TuneIn being unveiled today could get him a lot closer to that goal.
Basically, he's turned an app that could find radio stations and shows from all over the world through a search, into a social network for audio fans. Now, it's easier to find what you like, and get alerts when there's new stuff you like.
TuneIn "used to act like a browse and search engine," he says, "But you needed to know what you were looking for. Now...we craft your own personal radio dial that shows you all of the things that are going on in the world of live audio right now."
New features include a personalized live feed, profile pages for stations, and simple social media sharing tools, which hadn't been available on TuneIn before.
Local radio stations from around the world are available on TuneIn, along with any podcast that's streamed online — including programs from comedians Adam Carolla, Aisha Tyler and Jay Mohr.
(Disclosure: audio versions of Talking Tech air on TuneIn.)
With the revamped app, available for Apple and Android platforms, TuneIn has added audio feeds from CNN and the Weather Channel and audio shows from the Wall Street Journal and TMZ. No word on when an update might come for TuneIn's apps for Windows Phone or BlackBerry.
TuneIn, which is financed by Google Ventures, IVP, Sequoia Capital, General Catalyst Partners and Jafco Ventures, says it's now the world's largest audio network. Pandora, which doesn't offer live programming but personalized music, had nearly 75 million listeners in March. SiriusXM has 25 million subscribers.
The revamped TuneIn app.(Photo: screenshot)
On TuneIn, fans "bookmarked" stations they liked in the past. Now, TuneIn users "follow" favorites instead, with feeds that inform about when new content is posted. Donham says that after making this change, 95% of his content partners will have more followers on TuneIn than they currently do on Twitter or Facebook.
"Think about it for a minute," he says. "Who goes to Facebook to listen to radio? Nobody. So what sense does it make to put so much effort into a Facebook page? You want to be where your listeners are."
The Five Most Popular Radio Offerings on TuneIn
1. BBC Radio 1 (London) (1.9 million)
2. Hot 97 (New York) (1.2M)
3. Capital London (829.1K)
4. talkSPORT (UK) (776.6K)
5. Power 106 (Los Angeles) (536.0K)
Follow Jefferson Graham on Twitter.
References
- ^ http://tunein.com/get-tunein/ (tunein.com)