Radio advertising? - Could partly fund Habbox

[peteyt]

Hi there.

Just wondering how many people listen to your radio as if the number is decent or at least steady, you may be able to sell advertising time on the station itself, even if its simply someone on Habbox creating a little jingle for a small website.

The good thing with this is it works differently to graphic type adverts so add blockers wouldn't be able to block it and if it was nice and short most people probably wouldn't mind - I mean if there was a presenter I liked on who was entertaining I wouldn't mind listening to short occasional adverts in-between especially if they where worth waiting
for.

Some radio panels even allow you to add an audio file at the start of each listen. For example you could create a very short message that everyone would here when they first tuned in stating something like "your about to listen to Habbox Radio sponsored by Powergen" - it would be short so they wouldn't have to wait for ages and everyone should here it at the start. It's what I'm looking into doing once my radio returns.

[Calvin]

It could possibly work, but there are certain problems that may stop it happening. I mean HabboxLive doesn't really have that many listeners at the moment nevermind without playing advertisements too as my typical response to adverts coming up on a radio station is to switch to another and maybe I'll tune in at a later time (usually forget when I'm used to the other one). The adverts would probably have to be automated like you said, played at the start of the stream because if it is up to the DJs, the person who paid for the adverts would probably want proof that they were aired for the times they promised and the DJs forget to do it a lot of the time.

For the advertising to be successful and to get websites/businesses interested, you would need a specific criteria to prevent any people tuning out I say. As the radio is for the younger folks it should be something based on them, not an advertisement for a knitting community (all I could think of lol). If management look into this, they should do the research on the current listeners (perhaps a survey to pop up on HabboxLive.com) which asks what the user is interested in and go from there.

And one last thing, the adverts shouldn't be too long as that would really put me off and maybe try and promote that they're only short adverts as nowadays due to commercial stations, when adverts start you expect them to go on for ages. This will stop people tuning out straight away. :)

I think they could work though if done correctly.

[iLogan]

i know it's technically possible to have an intro file so whenever someone visits habbox.com or habboxlive.com they'd be played that file before getting connected to the live stream but it'd be a bit annoying tbh

[GoldenMerc]

i know it's technically possible to have an intro file so whenever someone visits habbox.com or habboxlive.com they'd be played that file before getting connected to the live stream but it'd be a bit annoying tbh

Could be a good idea, but then I wouldn't pay for that without having the url in a box on the website.

[Adam]

how about autoplaying once a day a .wav file on the forum?

"HabboxForum is sponsored by xxxxx, get your xxxx here".

quick, easy to install/change/w/e and won't get annoying, maybe.

[Mr-Trainor]

how about autoplaying once a day a .wav file on the forum?

"HabboxForum is sponsored by xxxxx, get your xxxx here".

quick, easy to install/change/w/e and won't get annoying, maybe.
Having a sound playing on the forum would be very annoying, seeing as usually the forum makes no sound at all :P.

[Pigperson]

Tbh I would get annoyed listening to many adverts. I think 1 advert an hour should suffice, at max 2. Even if we introduced adverts, who would pay to get their advert listened to by 10 people an hour - I never respond to radio adverts really.

Will

[Mr-Trainor]

Tbh I would get annoyed listening to many adverts. I think 1 advert an hour should suffice, at max 2. Even if we introduced adverts, who would pay to get their advert listened to by 10 people an hour - I never respond to radio adverts really.

Will
Was wondering the same thing tbh :P.

[Aiden]

I like the idea of audio advertising. Habbo would have to monitor the websites advertised but that wouldn't be hard! Like GoldenMerc said, you'd want a link to there website someone.

[peteyt]

i know it's technically possible to have an intro file so whenever someone visits habbox.com or habboxlive.com they'd be played that file before getting connected to the live stream but it'd be a bit annoying tbh

See I don't know how popular the radio is as the station I did run (returning eventually) was non habbo. The thing is if you make a show entertaining and not just music, actually give something people will be interested in then a large amount will put up with the advert if its a short one. Everyone hates YouTube adverts but if its something you really want to watch you'll wait.

[Samantha]

Really the adverts don't have to be externally related do they, as a little help towards Habbox you could say 'pay X amount of credits and get your website, room, etc. advertised on air.' Gain popularity as I know they advertise the Help Desk and event rooms so it could be expanded, I'm not sure if Habbo would allow you to do that though.

[beth]

genuinely think this could probably be a positive thing and actually break the humdrum of habbo radio rather than be a hinderence.

[Yonder]

Wouldn't Habbo's fansite ToS be against this?

[Chippiewill]

I'd be more concerned about radio licensing since Habbox doesn't exactly own the rights or pay for the right for the music they play. It's a grey area if you're providing a free service but outright advertising on the radio would be very dubious.

[AgnesIO]

I'd be more concerned about radio licensing since Habbox doesn't exactly own the rights or pay for the right for the music they play. It's a grey area if you're providing a free service but outright advertising on the radio would be very dubious.

Can imagine those PPL (or whoever they were) jumping on us like a leech if they thought it was in anyway commercialised...

[e5]

Yeah no guarantee the DJ's will play the adverts as they may forget - they're not professionals remember, so just might not work, unless automated.

[:Markster:]

So hold on, let me get this straight, people make a huge fuss about an advertisement on the forum but when it comes to playing adverts on the radio, it's a great idea all of a sudden? To be fair I think we'd lose the few listeners we have left... As far as having DJs do it, very unreliable and the problem with an automated system is that it too can be quite glitchy and unreliable. And let's be realistic, though this has been pointed out before, who would pay to have their advert played to 20 unique listeners at a time, the audience for our shows are teenagers between <10 to i'd say about 18yo-s and a 21-year-old (Jade), that age range isn't really targetable from an advertisers point of view.

[AgnesIO]

So hold on, let me get this straight, people make a huge fuss about an advertisement on the forum but when it comes to playing adverts on the radio, it's a great idea all of a sudden? To be fair I think we'd lose the few listeners we have left... As far as having DJs do it, very unreliable and the problem with an automated system is that it too can be quite glitchy and unreliable. And let's be realistic, though this has been pointed out before, who would pay to have their advert played to 20 unique listeners at a time, the audience for our shows are teenagers between <10 to i'd say about 18yo-s and a 21-year-old (Jade), that age range isn't really targetable from an advertisers point of view.

Not really teenagers then lol And I don't think they are referring to Facebook buying ad's - more smaller like the hosting "businesses" you get on here. Also, the people who don't want forum ad's are a TOTALLY different user base to those who listen to HxL.

[Grig]

I think it could have great potential, like bethie said.

However, people here are jumping to random statistics without proper research. For any implementation of such an idea there needs to be genuine research- demographics at specific times etc.

[AgnesIO]

I think it could have great potential, like bethie said.

However, people here are jumping to random statistics without proper research. For any implementation of such an idea there needs to be genuine research- demographics at specific times etc.


I'll get the marketing department right on to it.

Seriously though, doubt you'll need to give minor websites anymore information than "we have 50 users listening".

[Grig]

I'll get the marketing department right on to it.

Seriously though, doubt you'll need to give minor websites anymore information than "we have 50 users listening".

Still would be nice to have one of those surveys they did for rare values and news for HxL. It will help them and everyone will have useful statistics.

The claim that there are mainly 18-21 year olds listening is not true at all either, Mark.

[AgnesIO]

Still would be nice to have one of those surveys they did for rare values and news for HxL. It will help them and everyone will have useful statistics.

The claim that there are mainly 18-21 year olds listening is not true at all either, Mark.

Oh yeah, it would definitely be interesting - although almost certainly warped (everyone knows kids online add a few years on to their age... :P)

[Foregetfuhl]

To be quite honest DJs forget to advertise events on air half the time let alone advertising. If we actually saw a profit from it for things we actually need like jingles instead of myself and other DJs who have actually recently purchased jingles of our own back then I'd be all for it or maybe even for credits on habbo but i'm pretty sure there would be something that would mean that this wouldn't be allowed to happen somewhere in the T&C.

I guess it is something we could look into but I just don't see how effective it would actually be what with our demographic at the moment.


Still would be nice to have one of those surveys they did for rare values and news for HxL. It will help them and everyone will have useful statistics.

The claim that there are mainly 18-21 year olds listening is not true at all either, Mark.

I recently did a staff survey so that we could effectively improve our staff rules and what not which has helped dramatically.

And trust me the majority of our listeners are 13-21 not 18 lol.

[:Markster:]

Here's listener statistics for the last 24 hours. And i didn't say the majority of them were between 18-21 i said that the majority is between 10 - 18 (obviously that's a very wide range that can be narrowed down to a reasonable range of 13 - 16/17 year-olds) and ONE 21-year-old, being Jade :D

http://www.tashload.com/Uploader/uploads/mark/Zq1CrW8.png
http://habboxlive.com/stats/libchart/listeners.php?24

[LiquidLuck.]

Then we just need to advertise a little bit more and it makes sense that TH is now with the most number of listeners because they were recently highlighted, not sure if they had that many before it happened. Also I'm not quite sure how TH works because I only visited their Hogwarts, but for example, just by having that, they bring in a giant number of Habbo players that are into HpRp. Maybe we could do something that required building a few rooms to give people more space other than just Events & Help Desk?

I like the radio adverts idea, but yeah, like said above, I doubt we would get it when we don't even reach 40 listeners.

[Grig]

Then we just need to advertise a little bit more and it makes sense that TH is now with the most number of listeners because they were recently highlighted, not sure if they had that many before it happened. Also I'm not quite sure how TH works because I only visited their Hogwarts, but for example, just by having that, they bring in a giant number of Habbo players that are into HpRp. Maybe we could do something that required building a few rooms to give people more space other than just Events & Help Desk?

I like the radio adverts idea, but yeah, like said above, I doubt we would get it when we don't even reach 40 listeners.

TH will be better because they have 6 radio managers and the 3 timezones are split- they pour a crap ton of focus onto their radio and some of their methods used I disagree with. Also, there is never a minute (or very rarely) where TH doesn't go by without a giveaway, win a gold bar or win a room. Well at least that's how it's always been, haven't visited or seen that site for nearly a year. Considering all this, I say HxL isn't far off.

HxL should aim to focus on content and quality. If the content is worse, then we will never be in competition with them.

[Foregetfuhl]

TH will be better because they have 6 radio managers and the 3 timezones are split- they pour a crap ton of focus onto their radio and some of their methods used I disagree with. Also, there is never a minute (or very rarely) where TH doesn't go by without a giveaway, win a gold bar or win a room. Well at least that's how it's always been, haven't visited or seen that site for nearly a year. Considering all this, I say HxL isn't far off.

HxL should aim to focus on content and quality. If the content is worse, then we will never be in competition with them.

We have a good amount of DJs now. Our problem has and always will be a lack of international DJs and a real lack of an international side as a whole on the fansite itself. Look at HFFM and at TH they have specific international radio managers with a team the same size as their UK side and as a result have a far better international side. Our radio goes down yes I know that but at the times that would be peak for australians and sometimes americans. Unfortunately without a real international drive that isn't something that is going to improve. And quality is drastically improving since certain things have been put in place.

[peteyt]

I'd be more concerned about radio licensing since Habbox doesn't exactly own the rights or pay for the right for the music they play. It's a grey area if you're providing a free service but outright advertising on the radio would be very dubious.

Technically its not a grey area. I remember when I first started out in online radio and some believed it was legal for non profit stations to broadcast without licenses and some thought you could do it if you where under a certain age. Sadly none of it is true, legally you should have licenses if your non profit or profit and no matter what the age.

Obviously PPL/PRS etc. don't usually waste their time chasing small stations though as there are plenty of large pirate radio's out there they'd rather get their hands on.

---------- Post added 02-05-2013 at 03:29 PM ----------


HxL should aim to focus on content and quality. If the content is worse, then we will never be in competition with them.

This is one of the problems a lot of fan sites have. A lot of so called presenters often act just as announcers e.g. that was "insert song title here" next up is etc. With YouTube, spotifty and lots of similar services people who listen to radio these days have lots of choices and will be listening 99 percent from a home PC probably with their own music library to. If you don't try and give some content, something entertaining other than music it just won't get much of an audience.