German mobile programmer sets its sights on the U.S.
September 10th, 2007
Stuttgart-based Liquid Air Labs has been rolling out its mobile radio and podcasting service across Europe for the past three years. Now it’s gearing up for a Fall launch in the United States.
It has quietly been signing deals with nearly all the large broadcast groups to provide content on its Spodtronic service. Liquid Air SVP Zef Cheema isn’t offering many specifics, but they’ll launch in October with a number of formats and high-profile stations as part of their channel line-up.
He says “We’ve been aggressively adding terrestrial radio stations” who are signing-on “because they need to have a wireless strategy.” Liquid Air also has deals on paper with handset makers and wireless carriers. It’s not the first to offer radio on cell phones, however it is set to become the largest to offer it for free. It will be marketed as a “premium service” for wireless subscribers.
Liquid Air will get a portion of those revenues, plus the ability to sell pre-roll advertising and premium audio content. Cheema says focus groups show American consumers don’t want a subscription-based mobile audio product. He says “it’s been a very slow growth” for their competitors that have moved in that direction. Clear Channel and CBS scrapped subscription mobile programs earlier this year.
September 10th, 2007 at 8:45 am
Well, they fail the very first test of being viable to the mainstream. They cannot operate without the user downloading, installing and navigating their software. This cuts their addressable market down to a marginal level, which also reduces their potential for viral growth.