BAYSIDE, CALIFORNIA, April 24, 2012 – Content delivery network and streaming media provider StreamGuys, Inc. and mobile applications developer Onseeker are helping CRISTA Broadcasting deliver more than a standard streaming media experience to their online radio listeners — eliminating arduous processes and opening up new interactive features to drive closer audience engagement. CRISTA Broadcasting will enhance the listener experience and support advertising campaigns across three FM stations (KCMS-FM Seattle, KWPZ-FM Bellingham, Washington, KFMK-FM Austin, Texas), one AM station (KCIS-AM Seattle) and its internet HD Radio station Pure Music Radio using StreamGuys’ robust, virtualized streaming architecture. The updated streaming platform, launched in late March, delivers HE-AAC audio quality and Onseeker’s rich mobile apps to iOS and Android devices.
Channah Hanberg, new media specialist at CRISTA Broadcasting, notes scheduled push notifications as one major enhancement, allowing mobile listeners to receive bible verses at their convenience. This feature eliminates the cumbersome process of distributing more than 500,000 bible verses to listeners per month via text message.
Hanberg points to this direct audience engagement and better audio quality as key differentiators from other mobile streaming solutions. She adds that the openness of the entire solution provides her stations with easy access to edit material within the mobile apps, keeping content fresh and up to date.
“We have been working with StreamGuys for a long time,” said Hanberg. “We have a large community of listeners, and the mobile apps allow us to go deeper than the music — which is important as a Christian broadcaster. Our listeners can hear us live, interact with us closely through station events, and receive bible verses in any part of the world at the time of their choosing.”
Onseeker points to push notifications, social media engagement and dynamic advertising opportunities as key differentiating factors from competitive services. The company offers specialized apps for radio broadcast, sports teams, ministries and other verticals that feature unique design traits catered to the customer — a big difference from mobile app developers that deploy one app across many verticals and force users to adapt.
Roy Gonzalez, COO, Onseeker, notes that working with StreamGuys has given them a much larger presence in the radio broadcast industry. The companies are also working together to bring the complete streaming audio and mobile solution to each other’s customers across different verticals.
“We’re giving audio a facelift and bringing something unique to make mobile streaming more engaging,” said Gonzalez. “Meanwhile, we enable more audience interaction and new revenue-generating features for broadcasters through rotating banner ads with high-quality graphics. It all makes for an engaging mobile radio broadcast experience.”
StreamGuys is working with Onseeker to integrate dynamic shifting between stream types. This allows StreamGuys to plug in different audio formats and reach more listeners. StreamGuys’ experience in multi-format streaming has been instrumental in adapting the companies’ full mobile streaming solution to sports teams, many of which discovered that their Flash streams were not properly translating to mobile. “The streaming media ecosystem continues to expand, and relationships with companies like Onseeker help us provide a richer streaming media service to our clients,” said Jonathan Speaker, COO, StreamGuys. “This is especially important as streaming media more firmly integrates with the mobile universe, ensuring our customers aren’t forced to cobble multiple systems together to reach their goals.”