Firm Finds Niche Supporting Internet Radio Stations
Liquid Compass
“powers” more than 500 Internet radio stations in the United States, buying the bandwidth and operating and monitoring the streaming audio. It charges around $250 a month per station for providing that service.
The 13-employee company also develops Web sites and customized Internet audio/media players, and provides software that enables traditional, or terrestrial, radio stations to insert Internet-only ads during station breaks for their online audience.
Those various services enable the radio stations to promote themselves on the Internet, conduct listener polls and create additional revenue through banner ads or short video ads that can be linked to advertiser Web sites.
“People in radio are good at selling, spinning tracks,” said Zackary Lewis, Liquid Compass’ chief executive. But, he said, they aren’t necessarily adept at Internet technology.
With traditional AM/FM radio stations experiencing essentially flat revenue, Internet advertising can create an additional revenue stream and justify the cost of paying Liquid Compass for its services.
Meanwhile, Lewis said Liquid Compass is profitable, generating more than $1 million of revenue a year, and is signing up 30 new stations each month. The company also has a 3 percent churn rate _ customers that don’t renew their contracts.
“Our goal by the end of 2007 is to have close to, if not above, 1,000 stations that are hosted on our network,” Lewis said.
Photo by nwc.edu.
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