Digital Radio Brand Sees 6% Raise in Listening Hours Following Tech Revamp

The overhaul of the technology ecosystem driving a variety of digital radio stations turned out to be a massive and intricate project. It encompassed three major initiatives: a comprehensive redesign of all websites, migration to a unified multi-site Adobe Experience Manager CMS, and integration with the new audio platform.

Efficient Content Management

The use of the outdated Polopoly CMS for hosting websites became unsustainable as it was no longer supported by the vendor. Consequently, the media company had to implement a new solution across all its digital radio web properties.

The decision was made to migrate the websites to a single multi-site Adobe Experience Manager CMS. Proficient AEM developers from Axamit were enlisted to assist in creating an efficient architecture and executing the project.

Old Content Migration

About 150,000 pieces of content and related media assets spanning several years have been successfully migrated from Polopoly CMS to the multi-site AEM platform.

Single Control Panel

The AEM CMS equipped the team with a new robust interface for authoring and publishing content, enabling them to benefit from efficient and standardized workflows.

Unified Site Structure

The development team created an efficient architecture that included all the necessary shared AEM components to be reused across websites to build consistent experiences.

Unique Content Creation

The new CMS allowed for the creation of unique website page components tailored to individual stations while ensuring there were no conflicts with shared AEM components.

The shift to a single multi-site CMS has made the work easier for 110 employees engaged in content management across all digital radio websites. Editors can now efficiently manage both unique content for individual websites and shared content across them.

Simple Content Distribution

The new AEM CMS has resolved the problem of duplicate effort in content distribution that stems from each website operating on a separate CMS. Previously, content managers had to create the same content multiple times, but now they can make it once and publish it on a group of selected websites instantly.

Local Cultural Events

When promoting events, content managers can target local audiences in specific cities across all radio stations operating there. They can select individual stations in the target city to publish the promotion on their websites, regardless of whether they belong to the same network or different networks.

Global Music News

When sharing all-Canadian music news, content managers post the news article on the national website. They then distribute teasers across selected radio networks and stand-alone stations. Clicking on these teasers on any radio station’s website redirects visitors to the full article on the national site.

The implementation of new publishing workflows has made content distribution seamless, significantly reducing manual work and the risk of errors.

Web and Mobile Audio Platform

Adopting the advanced audio platform aimed to address several challenges simultaneously. Customers could enjoy their favourite radio stations through cutting-edge and convenient web and mobile apps. The company could incorporate account registration features, gather statistics on user engagement, and accurately measure their North Star metric: Total Listening Hours (TLH).

Integrated Audio Platform

After migrating broadcasting to the new audio platform, a system of redirects was set to ensure a seamless transition from informational websites to the web or mobile audio platform.

Web Live Player

The old audio player, used by website visitors to listen live while browsing, was replaced with the new player streaming audio directly from the integrated platform.

Customer Accounts

To encourage unregistered listeners to create accounts on the new audio platform, developers implemented a seamless redirect from mobile browsers to the mobile app download page.

North Star Metric

The new audio platform equipped the media company with advanced analytics tools to accurately measure TLH and provide insights into audience reach and engagement.

Once users create an account and install the mobile application, transitioning from browsing websites to enjoying music or podcasts on a mobile device is seamless. Registered listeners also enjoy personalized music recommendations, the ability to curate their playlists, offline listening, and other features.