Everything has moved to the smartphone. You read the news, check the weather, manage your bank account, order a taxi, and watch videos – all through apps.
Audio is no exception.
In Germany, 79% of youth households still have a radio receiver, but less than a third of young people actually own one. They don’t need it. They have a smartphone.
Ask a group of students if they own an FM receiver or know what 99.8 FM means. The blank stares tell you everything.
Habits formed in youth stick. This generation is not temporarily skipping traditional media; they are forming entirely different consumption patterns built around smartphones and apps.
As a medium, to exist you need to be where people are. And people – especially younger audiences – are on their smartphones, in apps.
Be there with your app, not someone else’s
Just as you once needed an FM transmitter to exist in broadcast radio, you now need an app to exist in digital audio. It is mandatory infrastructure.
Yet many organizations get it wrong: they think being on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube is enough. It is not.
Ask yourself three questions:
- Revenue concentration: What percentage of your digital revenues comes from a single platform like Spotify? Over 70%? That’s high risk.
- Audience access: Do you have direct contact info for more than 20% of your audience? If not, you don’t really “own” them.
- Discovery dependence: If your main platform removed your content tomorrow, how long would it take to rebuild half your audience?
The digital audio landscape has consolidated into an oligopoly. Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube control most consumption. These platforms follow a predictable playbook: free distribution at first, algorithmic curation, then commissions and ultimately competing with their own content.
Recent examples speak for themselves. Spotify’s 2023 podcast discovery changes virtually wiped out entire categories of creators overnight. AppGratis, a popular discovery platform with 12 million users, lost everything when Apple removed it from the App Store in 2013.
Platform dependency is not only risky; it is incompatible with building a sustainable business.
You need third-party platforms for reach and discovery. But you need your own app as your hub, your foundation, your insurance policy.
Your radio app is core. It’s your hub
According to Jacobs Media Techsurvey 2023, listeners using a station’s owned app show 42% higher brand loyalty than those using third-party platforms only. But that loyalty only matters if your app delivers real value.
Data: Measure What Actually Happens
The most compelling reason to own your app is data quality and depth.
Third-party platforms give you limited aggregate data. Your own app lets you:
- Build rich listener profiles
- Understand detailed behavior patterns by segment
- Track conversion and retention
- Calculate precise metrics such as Day 1/7/30 retention or DAU/MAU ratios
This level of insight allows optimization that no external dashboard can match. You can see where listeners drop off, what drives return visits, and which content converts first-time listeners into regulars. These are essential metrics for sustainable growth.
Advertising: Go Beyond Audio Ads
Owning your app transforms monetization. You are no longer limited to audio ads. You can add:
- Display formats (banner, interstitial, native)
- Video formats (pre-roll, rewarded video)
- Affiliate marketing and e-commerce integrations
These formats command higher CPMs because they are visual, clickable and measurable. They tap into massive budgets that do not usually flow to audio.
Perhaps most importantly, your own app lets you participate in programmatic advertising – automated, real-time bidding where advertisers buy inventory in milliseconds based on device, location, and listening history. You move from selling bulk spots to selling targeted, optimizable impressions that compete with digital video and display.
Experimentation: The Perfect Test Environment
Your owned app is also your best innovation sandbox. You can test new formats, growth mechanics, or monetization models, and measure everything. Third-party platforms decide their own rules and release cycles; your app gives you full freedom to experiment.
Personalization: Deliver at Scale
Personalization operates on two levels only owned apps can fully exploit:
- Content personalization: Weather forecasts become local. Traffic updates reflect real commute routes. News bulletins prioritize regional stories. This makes content much more valuable to each listener with minimal additional production effort.
- Recommendation personalization: Suggest shows based on listening history and completion rates, show different content by time of day, build “For You” sections that adapt automatically.
Better personalization means better engagement. More engagement generates more data. More data fuels even better personalization. A virtuous cycle.
Own it – Don’t use a generic app built by someone else
Here lies the strategic distinction: owning and controlling your app versus using off-the-shelf white-label solutions.
Think of it like Playmobil versus Lego. Playmobil gives you ready-made pieces; Lego gives you blocks to build anything.
White-label radio apps are fast to launch and low-investment, but here is what you sacrifice:
- Limited data depth: Pre-configured dashboards with standard metrics. You cannot track specific user journeys or integrate with your CRM or ad server.
- No real optimization: You cannot run cohort experiments or meaningful A/B tests.
- Weak personalization: Features are generic, not context-aware.
- Restricted monetization: No access to third-party SDKs or advanced integrations.
- No UX innovation: You cannot build unique discovery flows or swipe navigation like Le Monde’s La Matinale app.
Most importantly, you give up strategic control. Your update schedule, feature roadmap and integration options are in someone else’s hands.
Organizations that will thrive treat their radio app as a strategic asset:
- Build or own your tech stack, in-house or with a long-term development partner
- Invest in product and engineering talent
- Treat the app as a product, not a project
- Plan for continuous improvement, updates and UX innovation
The BBC did not build BBC Sounds from a template. They invested in something distinctive. The result: more than 5 million weekly active users.
How to get people to download your radio app
Here is the hard truth: most people will not download your app for content they have never tried. App fatigue is real and users must be convinced before installing yet another app. That does not mean an app strategy is doomed. It means you need a smart approach.
Attract Through Third-Party Platforms and Apply Windowing
The funnel starts on third-party platforms:
- Discovery happens on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.
- Trust is built through great content.
- Migration happens when you give listeners a reason.
Windowing is the key.
The New York Times releases The Daily everywhere for a few days before moving it behind its own paywall. Radio France publishes new shows on all platforms for 7 days, then keeps archives exclusive to its app.
Windowing can be platform-exclusive (bonus content only on your app) or time-exclusive (early access or full archives).
Done well, it rewards superfans and builds loyalty. Done poorly, it frustrates users. The difference lies in whether your app adds real value beyond what is free elsewhere.
App Growth Strategies
Once you have valuable content and reasons to download, you need to drive discovery:
App store optimization (ASO)
App stores are search engines. Optimize them like one:
- Title with clear keywords (“Station Name – Radio, Podcasts & Music, etc.”)
- Keyword fields (iOS) using relevant, high-volume terms (your region if you are a local station)
- A strong description and visuals showing the value instantly
- Positive ratings and regular updates
Paid user acquisition
Invest smartly when lifetime value exceeds acquisition cost.
- Apple Search Ads or Google App Campaigns
- Social ads on Meta or TikTok
- Retargeting through display
Track Cost Per Install (CPI) versus the lifetime value (LTV) of a listener. As a rule of thumb, if LTV > 3x CPI, paid acquisition makes sense.
Cross-promotion
Use every channel you own:
- Mentions on air
- Email newsletters
- Social media
- Website banners and QR codes
Promote your app, not your frequency.
One radio app or several?
For groups with multiple brands, or for radios with plenty of additional webradios, the decision is strategic.
One app works if your brands share similar DNA and target audiences. It strengthens your presence and concentrates reviews and rankings.
At Babbel, we tested 14 single-language apps versus one unified app. The unified version consistently outperformed because downloads and reviews were concentrated, improving store visibility.
Use separate apps only when brands are radically different – for example, a youth-music station versus a classical-news channel.
Avoid mixing radio and video in a single app. They require different interfaces and metadata. Mixing them usually leads to messy experiences.
The Path Forward
Having your app at the center of your digital strategy is not about abandoning Spotify or Apple. It is about creating strategic resilience, owning audience relationships, and building sustainable business models.
Key principles:
- Recognize the shift: consumption happens on smartphones.
- Reduce platform dependency: use third-party platforms for discovery, not for control.
- Invest in your app as your core asset: your data engine, monetization platform, and innovation lab.
- Own it: white-label solutions limit you.
- Use smart migration strategies: windowing, ASO, paid acquisition, cross-promotion.
- Decide strategically: one app or several based on your content and audience.
App fatigue is real. So is the value of owning your audience relationship. The organizations that thrive will integrate both owned and third-party platforms while ensuring their app remains the ultimate destination.
Your app is not just another distribution channel. It is your data engine, innovation lab, monetization platform and insurance against platform dependency.
In a world where the app is the future of audio consumption, owning it is not optional. It is imperative.
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