Audioboom Set To Make A Lot Of Noise

Traditionally, big money from the audio entertainment sector comes from the music scene. However, new entrant Audioboom is aiming to make a lot of noise in the radio industry through spoken word. Digital social media audio platform Audioboom Group PLC (BOOM.L) has surprised many industry players when it raised its capitalization more than 10 times in just five months and raised nearly $13 million (£8 million) fresh capital infusion from new and existing institutional and other shareholders to finance the firm's expansion. The London-based company provides audio content across the internet for various media groups including the BBC, Telegraph, Guardian, CBS, Sky Sports, Premier League, Southern Cross Austereo, Reuters, CNBC, Universal, Fox among others. The company claims to reach more than nine million unique listeners per month. In August, Audioboom said it was able to registers close to 20 million listeners across its network, a big jump from the eight million registered in the same month in 2013. If the company monetised every single listen at current ad rates, it would generate £200,000 a month - hardly enough to cover its costs. But Arden Partners, Audioboom's house broker, predicts that it will reach 435m listens in 2016. Arden reckons that the company will be able to develop new revenue streams - such as charging users for audio without ads - and will turn a small profit within the next three years. After languishing in relative obscurity - as far as investors were concerned - Audioboom in May listed on Aim, London's junior stock market, with a market value about £6m. The company is now worth more than £70m, though it has yet to generate any significant revenues, let alone a profit. Rob Proctor, chief executive, says Audioboom has the opportunity to tap into a huge userbase by filling a gap in the market for spoken-word content online. That would allow it to create a "huge advertising network", he said , just as Google's YouTube has done with video. "If we execute, we have an opportunity to do some quite remarkable things in the marketplace," Mr Proctor said. Audioboom was founded in 2009 - under the name Audioboo - as a free platform for individuals to record and publish audio online. What differentiated it from other platforms was the ease with which it allowed people to embed the content on their own websites or on social media such as Twitter and Facebook. But in order to develop a sustainable business model, the company has moved away from its roots as a platform for user-generated content. Since Mr Proctor joined Audioboom in 2012, the company has focused on signing up premium content producers such as Talksport, the Premier League, Reuters, CNBC and Universal. In total, it has more than 800 professional content partners. Audioboo is an excellent platform for spoken word audio. The platform, designed by Audioboom Group PLC (BOOM.L), has rapidly grown its user database in the United Kingdom, the United States, Latin America and Australia. From just 19 in 2013, the company has increased its channels to over 800 in 2014. Audioboo is set to change the face of audio recording, editing and sharing as how audio consumers know it. Audioboom is a SaaS based digital social media audio platform enabling the creation, broadcast and consumption of audio across multiple global media outlets. Audioboom works with some of the biggest names in broadcasting across sport, entertainment and current affairs to bring their content to millions of listeners worldwide via Facebook, Twitter and other media platforms. Audioboom has over 1,700 content partners, including the BBC, Telegraph, Guardian, CBS, Sky Sports, Premier League, Southern Cross Austereo, Reuters, CNBC, Universal and Fox.