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Media Beat: December 16, 2019

Earlier in this column, we reported on the self-acknowledged success of Radioplayer in Cana

Media Beat: December 16, 2019

By David Farrell

Earlier in this column, we reported on the self-acknowledged success of Radioplayer in Canada. It stood to reason that we were going to hear from Bell Media, which has its own iHeartRadio app in the market.


We were right. Last week, Rob Farina, Head of Radio Content, Strategy and iHeartRadio, Bell Media Radio, fired back with the following…

I felt your story gave the reader the impression that Radioplayer Canada is being adopted by Canadians as their choice for streaming audio. It’s not.  We are currently clocking at over 20 million hours tuned monthly – compared to their 3.7. Even the Stingray app has more engagement then RadioPlayer Canada. The other factor – they got to 1M downloads in 3 years – we hit that within six months of launch and now have almost 3 million downloads in Canada. But downloads are a useless figure – you can get lots of downloads, but what matters is the engagement. How many apps have you downloaded and never used?  

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The attached chart should give you an accurate picture of where Canadian radio plays – and it’s on iHeart. Also – we have been onboarding Canadian broadcasters onto iHeart platform – Evanov, MyFM, Canadian Association of Community and Campus broadcasters, etc.

He tips us that two more “major broadcasters” are to be announced as part of the bandwidth of stations on offer through the iHeartRadio Canada app toot sweet.

So, it would seem, the iHeartRadio app is winning the race to date, but let's also take into account that the more the merrier adds to more radio audience engagement and that's a good thing.

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Oscar Voting, Nominations Announcement Delayed Again Due to L.A. Wildfires
Awards

Oscar Voting, Nominations Announcement Delayed Again Due to L.A. Wildfires

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has announced updates to its 2025 Oscars key dates and schedule of events due to the impact of the Los Angeles-area fires. The Oscar telecast is still set for March 2, but the nominations announcement is being delayed for the second time to Jan. 23 — and will now be held virtually. The Oscars nominees luncheon, always an A-list event, will not be held this year.

“We are all devastated by the impact of the fires and the profound losses experienced by so many in our community,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy president Janet Yang said in a joint statement. “The Academy has always been a unifying force within the film industry, and we are committed to standing together in the face of hardship.

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