Audio-first app Podcoin complements existing
livestreaming video portfolio
The Meet Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:MEET), a public market leader in
the mobile meeting space, today announced that it has added
Podcoin, a first-of-its-kind mobile app that rewards podcast
listeners, to its portfolio of mobile apps.
This press release features multimedia. View
the full release here:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005229/en/
“Podcoin is the social podcasting app that pays its listeners,”
said Geoff Cook, Chief Executive Officer of The Meet Group. “Within
four months of initial launch--and entirely organically--the app
surpassed one million daily listening minutes. We look forward now
to bringing Podcoin to our 15+ million monthly users, across our
livestreaming portfolio of social apps. We expect that 40% of our
US audience will listen to a podcast in the next month. We see an
opportunity to reach not only these users, but also the other 60%,
as the podcasting industry continues to rapidly expand.”
Podcoin has been moving up the charts organically and is highly
rated on both the Apple and Google platforms, with 4.7/5 stars on
iOS and 4.6/5 stars on Android, based on thousands of ratings.
"Our mission has always been and continues to be about
increasing human connection, and podcasting is an inherently
intimate medium. It makes you feel like you are in the room,
participating in a meaningful conversation,” said Cook. “We see an
opportunity not only to help our users discover content, but also
to participate in meaningful conversations around that content. We
expect to roll out likes, comments, and an enhanced social graph in
the coming months to encourage connection. We see podcasts as an
untapped interest graph and a relevant signal for meeting new
people. If our livestreaming video experience is the lean-in,
interactive blend of connection and entertainment, podcasting is
its lean-back audio complement.”
“While of course we focus the vast majority of our resources on
livestreaming video with more people working on it than ever
before, we also see the importance of exploring truly new, blue sky
ideas,” said Cook, “as we have done throughout our history. Audio
is a clear adjacency to video and podcasting is one of the fastest
growing segments of audio. We want to enable social experience
around podcasts, and we believe Podcoin has the right hook at the
right time to appeal to our 15+ million monthly users.”
With more than 40,000 monthly users today spending an average of
six hours a week listening to podcasts, Podcoin gamifies podcast
listening by paying the listener one Podcoin for every ten minutes
spent listening. Leaderboards show the top listeners, and listeners
can follow each others’ profiles. Podcoin currency can be redeemed
for rewards, including gift cards, headphones, and more.
“We aim to amass a sizable audience,” continued Cook. “With
that, we believe we can drive discovery of new podcasts to
podcasters who ‘claim’ their podcasts on Podcoin. Claiming is free,
and as a quick Twitter search for #podcoin shows, has proven
effective for driving listening minutes. So far, approximately
30-40% of Podcoin’s listening minutes have gone to claimed
podcasts. We believe the ability to drive listening minutes to a
subset of podcasts through minor variation to Podcoin-earning rates
points a pathway to future monetization.”
Podcasters who claim their podcasts can get direct insights into
what other podcasts their audience members are listening to through
the app, and they also have access to advanced analytics that track
listening minutes, listeners, subscribers, taps in search, and
more. The company expects in the coming months to enable community
so that podcasters can engage their audience of listeners and so
that listeners may discover each other.
About Podcoin
Podcoin is a first-of-its-kind mobile app that rewards
listeners. Our mission is to increase the time the world spends
listening. By adding social and gamification to podcasting, Podcoin
intends to solve the problem of discovery for podcasters and
provide the most efficient way to build and engage an audience. For
more information, please visit https://www.podcoin.com/.
About The Meet Group
The Meet Group (NASDAQ: MEET) is a portfolio of mobile social
entertainment apps designed to meet the universal need for human
connection. We leverage a powerful live-streaming video platform,
empowering our global community to forge meaningful connections.
Our primary apps, MeetMe®, LOVOO®, Skout®, Tagged®, and Growlr®,
keep millions of mobile daily active users entertained and engaged
and originate untold numbers of casual chats, friendships, dates,
and marriages. Our apps, available on iPhone, iPad, and Android in
multiple languages, use innovative products and sophisticated data
science to let our users stream live video, send gifts, chat, and
share photos. The Meet Group has a diversified revenue mix
consisting of in-app purchases, subscription, and advertising, and
we have offices in New Hope, Philadelphia, San Francisco and
Dresden. For more information, visit themeetgroup.com, and follow
us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.
Forward Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking
statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995, including whether we will bring Podcoin to our
users across our livestreaming portfolio of social apps, whether
40% of our US audience will listen to a podcast in the next month,
whether we will successfully reach our users, whether the podcast
industry will continue to rapidly expand, whether we will help our
users discover content and participate in meaningful conversations
around that content, whether we will roll out likes, comments, and
an enhanced social graph as expected, whether we will enable social
experience around podcasts, whether Podcoin has the right hook at
the right time to appeal to our monthly users, whether Podcoin will
amass a sizable audience, whether with a sizable audience Podcoin
we will monetize by driving discovery of new podcasts to podcasters
who claim their podcasts on Podcoin, whether the ability to drive
listening minutes to a subset of podcasts through minor variation
to Podcoin-earning rates will point a pathway to future
monetization, whether Podcoin will remain effective for driving
listening minutes, and whether we will enable community as expected
so that podcasters can engage their audience of listeners and
listeners may discover each other. All statements other than
statements of historical facts contained herein are forward-looking
statements. The words “believe,” “may,” “estimate,” “continue,”
“anticipate,” “intend,” “should,” “plan,” “could,” “target,”
“potential,” “project,” “is likely,” “expect” and similar
expressions, as they relate to us, are intended to identify
forward-looking statements. We have based these forward-looking
statements largely on our current expectations and projections
about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect
our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy
and financial needs. Important factors that could cause actual
results to differ from those in the forward-looking statements
include the risk that our applications will not function easily or
otherwise as anticipated, the risk that we will not launch
additional features and upgrades as anticipated, the risk that
unanticipated events affect the functionality of our applications
with popular mobile operating systems, any changes in such
operating systems that degrade our mobile applications’
functionality and other unexpected issues which could adversely
affect usage on mobile devices. Further information on our risk
factors is contained in our filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including the Form 10-K for the year
ended December 31, 2018 filed with the SEC on March 8, 2019. Any
forward-looking statement made by us herein speaks only as of the
date on which it is made. Factors or events that could cause our
actual results to differ may emerge from time to time, and it is
not possible for us to predict all of them. We undertake no
obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement,
whether as a result of new information, future developments or
otherwise, except as may be required by law.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005229/en/
Media Contact:Brandyn Bissingerbbissinger@themeetgroup.com(267)
446-7010
Investor Contact:Leslie Arenalarena@themeetgroup.com(267)
714-6418
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