TinBu offers a variety of these content modules, and it has a little different spin on most of them. Its modules are particularly interactive and designed to push up the page views and aid your traffic -- and many radio stations are using them for free.
"What TinBu is at its core is a technology company," says TinBu President John Brier. "We've got a patent-pending technology -- we've got close to dozen different patents filed in the U.S. and internationally -- where we can take any form of data or information and turn it into a very interactive content channel. We call them 'modules,' which can best be deployed on a web site or a network of web sites in a very easy, very customizable fashion. At the end of the day, what they're designed to do is offer web site visitors quality, best-of-breed content."
Brier is confident about TinBu content's attractiveness to site visitors. "It's going to drive page views," he says. "It's going to absolutely give the web site owner, or, in this case, radio station group, a measurable increase in the number of page views that they generally see from the same content channels that they may have had in place prior to switching to a TinBu module -- and, at the same time give their users a better product that they'll come to rely on."
TinBu's content is already in wide use-- Brier points to clients including AOL, AOL Canada, AOL Mexico, MSN, MSN en Espanol, CBS Television, USA Today, Fox Television, and Yahoo -- and most of them are paying licensing fees. But for radio, Brier says, ad partnerships let station sites use the content modules for free -- and make some money as well. Brier says, "[Radio stations] don't have to pay a licensing fee, and built into the content channels are the revenue-driving advertising solutions. So in addition to getting world-class content for free, you're also getting a new revenue stream in an automated process." Content modules can also be sponsored, another potential revenue opportunity.
TinBu modules can be found on web sites belonging to CBS Radio -- says Brier, "Most of their stations have one to eight of our modules on their station sites across the country" -- Next Media, Del Marva, Journal Broadcasting, and, in Canada, Corus, Newcap, and Rogers, which is a paying client rather than an ad-based deal.
On the tech side, Brier says implementing TinBu is "extremely easy." He continues, "We handle the integration. We have point people from TinBu who get assigned to work with the technical person or, in some cases, many different technical people, that work on the web sites around the country. We provide them with setup instructions that are relatively easy to follow. It doesn't take long. We've launched with whole networks of hundreds of sites in a day or two, and once we launch, it's hands-free. There's nothing anyone has to do."
Brier notes that the "Girl of the Day" module, popular with Classic Rockers, is TinBu's highest page-view generator, with more than 11 page views per user. (TinBu's module offers five to 20 or more pics of the day's featured girl.) The horoscope feature adds interactivity as well; Brier says, "Our interactive horoscope modules averages 5.7 page views per user. Simply by changing out a static daily horoscope page to our interactive horoscope page, you're going to see an over 500 percent increase of the page views associated with that part of your web site. It's a no-brainer, but a lot of people don't take the time to look at what I am really talking about here."
As noted above, Rogers has TinBu up and running on its sites, and Rogers Digital Media Director/Online Operations & Content Adam Kaftalovich tells Convergence Weekly, "The one thing that we try to do with our radio sites, we provide the core information about the station, and as well as trying to augment that with content and information that would be applicable to the demographic that's visiting the sites. Because a majority of people come to the sites to listen to the station live, and often they'll surf around the site, and we want to be able to give them a decent enough experience over and above just information about the on-air personalities."
Rogers is using quite a few TinBu modules, including weather, horoscopes, lottery numbers, and the Girl of the Day." About the content, Kaftalovich says, "I wouldn't say that it necessarily drives incremental traffic to the site, but it definitely increases the overall page views and the time spent on the web sites." He points to the weather module on AC Clear FM/Vancouver's site at http://www.1049clearfm.com/ and notes, "It fits nicely into the look of the site -- it's nice, clean images. The content is moderately interactive, so people can go through and look at the historical weather and the weather two weeks out, and obviously, it changes pretty much daily, but they'll look at air quality and some of the visual maps for weather outside of Canada. "
So how is it working with TinBu? "It's been a great relationship," Kaftalovich says. "They're very active. One thing I like about them is that they have a solid rollout of new products. A lot of vendors we've worked with in the past and have worked with in other capacities, it's hard to really get a product rolled out. These guys, they know what they're working on over the coming months, and they're pretty open with it. And the business model they offer, too, around it -- ad-based support vs. straight licensing. We've opted to go with the licensing, just to keep things as clean as possible on our sites, but adding some of the stuff with some of the contextual ads is also a nice option to have."
TinBu offers all of its content in Spanish and many modules in other languages as well. If it sounds like it might have something for you, check it out at http://www.tinbu.com/.
About TinBu
TinBu uses patent-pending technology to provide interactive data products to leading online and wireless companies worldwide. TinBu`s clients include AOL, AOL Latino, AOL Canada, AOL Mexico, Telemundo, MSN, MSN Español, MSNBC, USA TODAY, BellSouth, ATT, Media General, Clear Channel Television, CBS Television, ABC Television, Fox Television, CBS Radio, Boston Herald, Boston Globe, Tribune, Toronto Star, CBC New Media, My Red Fish, Local Solutions Networks, Motricity, uClick, St. Louis Post Dispatch, Hello Metro, New York Daily News, DirecTV, Univision, Terra Networks, Yahoo!, People PC, and many others.
