Spectrum Medya Announces Launch of Karnaval.com
Online, March 13, 2012 (Newswire.com) - Spectrum Medya A.S., the leading music-focused media company in Turkey announced today the launch of Karnaval.com, a revolutionary new digital listening and music discovery platform.
Karnaval.com brings users a best-in-class digital listening and music discovery experience - an experience that combines the worlds of online radio, social media, and music news in a free, fully-integrated service: access to Spectrum's leading radio stations of Super FM, Metro FM, Joy Turk, Joy FM, and Radio Mydonose; a world-class digital radio player with the latest in user controls and social media integration; hundreds of exclusive videos, blogs and music reviews; and an on-demand player highlighting new releases and new artists.
With more than 42 million listening hours per month and over 2.5 million unique listeners reached each week, Spectrum Medya already offers one of the broadest terrestrial radio platforms in Turkey. Karnaval.com now transports Spectrum's radio platforms to a new digital level.
Karnaval.com Re-Invents the Radio Experience: More User Control, Better Social Media Integration, Exclusive First Listen, Event Tickets, Unique Contests and more...
More User Control: Karnaval.com listeners can time-shift their listening by pausing, rewinding and fast-forwarding live radio.
Better Social Media Integration: Users can chat with each other using their Facebook profiles while listening or even chat directly with the stations' DJs to request songs.
Exclusive First Listen: The newest songs & the latests artists are all available to listen in full-length on demand, for free!
Event Tickets: Fully integrated with Biletix.com (Ticketmaster Turkey), Karnaval users can find tickets to their favorite artist everytime a song is played. A world's first: each song prompts listeners to buy tickets for that performer's concert.
Unique Contests: Karnaval.com provides numerous contests and sweepstakes across its partner radio stations, giving users daily new chances to win exciting prizes.
"This is the biggest re-invention of radio in Turkey in the past 20 years. Radio is already the #1 place where listeners discover new music - Karnaval will be where they discover more and then share it with their friends," says Ali A. Abhary, CEO of Spectrum Medya.
Karnaval.com's other features include:
• High Definition Audio: the best quality sound experience available free-of-charge to our members
• Studio Live Video Streaming: watch the DJs spin their tracks, live and in real-time right from the Karnaval Player
• Better Artist Intelligence: everything you want to know about your favorite artists including biographies, photos and videos
Karnaval.com's revolutionary digital listening experience will be extended to various mobile platforms including iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Nokia and iPad.
Changing the Radio Sector
Ali A. Abhary told us about the process of creating project; "When I came to Spectrum, I saw that they had done a great job in radio - Super FM and Metro FM pioneered the industry in Turkey - and for 20 years they've done a wonderful job building these brands. But what they hadn't done is think about how else these assets can be used, especially in the new digital world. How else can value be created with these assets? That's where I saw great opportunity for building something new, and that's where we got the idea for Karnaval.com.
Spectrum is already the leader in digital radio in Turkey. Three of the top 5 radio stations measured by reach percent on the internet (RIAK Jan. 2012) are Spectrum stations; with the #1 online radio brand being Radio Mydonose which is generating almost 60% of its listenership from the internet. This is a figure which is unheard of in the US.
Our strategy is to be where the listeners are. They're on the Web. They're on Facebook. They're on Twitter. They're on their tablets and mobile phones. And so are we. Radio is truly Turkey's companion, wherever they happen to be.People listen to internet radio while at work - we see this in the data. Listening starts to pick up right around 9am, dips around lunch time, and peaks again by late afternoon. Radio is still Turkey's #1 companion - it's with you on your way to work, all day, and on your way home.
The current version of Karnaval, while revolutionary in itself, is just the beginning. We will have more surprises in store as we develop this great new platform".