Nova's SmoothFM makes a move on experiential

Rachael Micallef
By Rachael Micallef | 20 October 2014
 

Nova Entertainment is continuing to expand the scope of radio with the launch of an experiential platform for SmoothFM, which gives listeners "close access” to artists on the station's playlist.

The A Night With platform will launch on 6 November as Smooth's answer to Nova's Red Room brand, which provides exclusive concerts for listeners.

During the launch Spandau Ballet will perform The Star with Sydney and Melbourne listeners being given the opportunity to win tickets to the intimate gig.

Nova Entertainment group marketing director Tony Thomas told AdNews that similarly to Nova's Red Room brand, A Night With will provide additional opportunities to partner with brand sponsors, but noted the first concert under the platform was not branded.

He also said it was important that the strategy could be leveraged through all of Nova's channels including being able to share its exclusive content on air and online.

“Its an experience that is not just enjoyed but needs to be shared and we need to provide and optimise and pull together all of our platforms for as much as that content sharing as possible,” Thomas said.

Nova has been focusing on its diversitifaction strategy, moving into white label products, music streaming and subscription television with its Smooth channel on Foxtel.

When it comes to what “radio” is defined by in this kind of a model, Thomas said radio has always occupied space as the “original social media” given it has always included a two-way dialogue through phone-ins.

He said Nova has just moved this focus to “entertainment” more broadly.

“We do see radio as the ultimate kind of social entertainment experience and that lends itself very nicely to the way people are now engaging,” Thomas said.

“Media is going through an enormous amount of change. We've got our core business that we're building but we're also building strong propositions across adjacent business to drive revenue. For us our digital business growth across mobile, online, video is really important and that's a natural progression.”

While Thomas said that Smooth will be doing further experiential projects in the future, the other area Nova is looking at is data. Thomas said that data was “a big part of our business” in terms of content optimisation, ad serving and market mix modelling.

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