Radio.co Allows Anyone to Create Internet Radio Stations

RADIO ONLINE | Wednesday, September 23, 2015

James Mulvany, the UK entrepreneur who founded successful tech start-up Igniso ten years ago at the age of 18, has launched his latest venture: online radio platform Radio.co. Despite the young age of Igniso and its team of ten staff, MUlvany is convinced that of all the high-growth areas in media and technology, the "ancient" medium of radio is not only here to stay, but it is big business.

"Video never did kill the radio star," says Mulvany. "And far from killing off radio, the Internet has in fact made it stronger than it has ever been. Research proves that people are increasingly turning away from on-demand music and content, and back to live-because in our busy lives we tend to trust our favorite DJs and presenters to select or 'curate' for us rather than always having to search for ourselves."

Radio.co is a live streaming platform that allows anyone to build an online radio station and broadcast globally. DJs can connect from anywhere in the world, and easily and automatically switch between live and automated broadcasting. As well as radio stations, the technology can also be used by anyone who wants to create a human-curated audio experience, such as restaurant chains, gyms, churches, event organisers or musicians.

The idea came from one of Igniso's long-established technology brands, Wavestreaming, which developed into one of the world's most user-friendly and reliable radio platforms and eventually evolved into the new Radio.co brand. Already in the six weeks since its soft launch, Radio.co has seen its 300 subscribers broadcasting 22 million hours of radio to over 5.5million listeners, and these numbers are growing by 40% week on week. With syndication partnerships already in place with Tunein and Apple, Mulvany predicts a target of 1,000 radio stations broadcasting on the platform by Christmas.

Global radio industry statistics prove that Internet radio is a major business opportunity: over 90% of us listen to radio every week, and the biggest growth area (half and growing) is online listening. Advertising revenues are set to double in the next two years, and the proportion of this revenue coming from Internet radio versus AM/FM or DAB is forecast to rise by more than 50% in the same period.