Perth-based media millennial-focused startup, So Media Group, has introduced the launch of a brand new revolutionary AI listening software final month that it says will increase the accessibility of their content material.
Specifically, the software options audio playback and narration of its articles.
So Media Group (SMG) is the father or mother firm of nationwide journey So The place Subsequent, leisure So Binge and life-style So Perth publications. The AI-drive performance has been launched throughout all of SMG’s media platform, with the audio choice supplied instantly beneath the primary title of every article.
Readers – or reasonably listeners – can hear a pure voice narrate the textual content of the article, and might regulate the playback pace of the audio accordingly. In any case, research reveal about 55% of tourists learn articles for 15 seconds or much less. On common, customers will solely examine 20% of an article – persons are much more prone to pay attention than learn.
SMG chief working officer, Jason Balchand, famous the brand new know-how has already delivered outcomes.
“Including performance to our platforms that makes our content material extra accessible to the vision-impaired and shoppers who’ve a desire of audio content material was a straightforward choice for us to make,” he mentioned.
Early indicators present robust utilization throughout all three platforms with the engagement charges thus far a lot greater than we had predicted.
Jason Balchand
Consumer engagement via promoting
Whereas the software provides a brand new extra handy choice for its readers, it additionally provides a brand new income stream; promoting. Alternatives can happen all through the participant expertise, from branding on the participant interface to each pre- and post-roll audio promoting.
“Offering our purchasers with new methods of participating with our viewers, with out negatively impacting the person expertise, shall be good for everybody,” mentioned SMG co-founder Adam Barrell.
“That is additionally just the start of our give attention to audio, with quite a few podcasts as a consequence of start episode launch within the coming weeks.”
The function additionally services the distribution of the group’s content material via streaming platforms, most notably Spotify and Apple Podcasts. This, together with the podcasts, is ready to open up the group’s platforms for brand new alternatives this yr.
In complete, the group’s portfolio attracts 2 million month-to-month web page views with a social media viewers consisting of over 700,000 followers – a doubling primarily based on statistics from the identical time final yr.
The previous yr has been busy for the group, with a capital increase introduced last March, a brand new chatbot function and the acquisition of Perth-based social media advertising company Carma The Social Chameleon, as a part of a wider technique to develop nationally.
