BAYSIDE, CALIFORNIA, November 28, 2012 – Content delivery network and streaming media provider StreamGuys Inc. now supports all live and on-demand audio streaming for The Radio Network (TRN) of New Zealand — helping one of the nation’s largest broadcasters improve audio quality and expand its streaming footprint beyond the desktop. TRN operates 124 stations in 25 markets across the country, offering seven distinct brands that broadcast news, talk, sports and music. The broadcaster migrated to StreamGuys based on its desire to move into mobile streaming, which it identifies as a key growth area. TRN has since launched iPhone and Android mobile streams for key brands and stations, with StreamGuys delivering multiple services including program audio and branded apps developed by Jacobs Media.
“We see streaming media as an important platform for radio as listening moves to other devices,” said Carolyn Luey, Group General Manager for digital at The Radio Network. “Our strategy for digital is to increase the number of touchpoints into our audience. The mobile smartphone is a critical part of this strategy.”
Luey notes that StreamGuys helps TRN deliver “the full radio experience” through live audio and video streaming. StreamGuys’ ability to support multiple audio formats over its cloud-based streaming architecture has simplified TRN’s workload, eliminating multiple format transcoding steps from their side.
“StreamGuys transcodes our streams into all the formats we need for delivery to many devices, including mobile,” said Wayne Sleeman, broadcast engineering manager at The Radio Network. “This would not have been possible with our previous streaming architecture.”
Sleeman and Luey both express that audio quality has improved since migrating to StreamGuys, offering live mp3 and HE-AAC streams to all listeners. Reliability has also improved through StreamGuys’ cloud-based architecture, which supports high availability, strong redundancy and flexibility to scale on short notice.
The scalability aspect is one that especially resonates with Sleeman. “There is a lot of flexibility to the StreamGuys architecture,” he said. “I can have a new stream up and configured by StreamGuys within a couple of hours and without a lot of aggravation.”
The flexibility of the StreamGuys architecture extends to video, which TRN has just started to explore. The broadcaster launched a live DJ stream for its NewsTalk ZB format that is gradually building numbers — with Luey adding that stronger video emphasis is likely as more homes throughout New Zealand add fiber connections.
StreamGuys is also providing a comprehensive business software package through it architecture with detailed reporting and monitoring services. The two primary resources are SGmon, a concurrency monitoring service that provides per-stream data; and SGreports, which provides richer audience details within custom reports.
“The ability to help our customers reliably reach more devices and strategize future growth neatly summarizes the role of a full-service streaming media provider in today’s broadcast market,” said Jonathan Speaker, COO, StreamGuys. “The Radio Network of New Zealand is an ideal example of how radio broadcasters are expanding their streaming media footprint into mobile and video to reach more listeners and entertain audiences in fresh ways.”