Streaming Archives

October 15, 2019

No Better Friend and No Worse Enemy for Broadcasters – the Rise of Voice Assistants

Last month I met General Jim Mattis at the LIFT Summit where he told his story of why there is “No Better Friend and No Worse […]

April 9, 2018

Alexa Listening Takes Off According to NPR Data

NPR revealed in an interview with MediaPost that its streaming listening through Amazon Alexa devices grew 242% between November and February. Alexa now accounts for 13.3% of all NPR’s live streaming, up from just 3.9% in late 2017. When listening on any device triples over a 3-4 month period, every general manager and program director is going to take note.

March 15, 2018

Westwood One Sports Debuts Interactive Listening Experience of 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and More for Alexa

Westwood One, the largest radio network in the U.S., and the official network radio partner of the NCAA, has worked with Amazon and development partner XAPPmedia to offer Alexa and Westwood One consumers effortless access to Westwood One Sports’ exclusive live audio coverage and post-game recaps of the 2018 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship.

March 13, 2018

XAPP is Bringing Podcasts to Google Home and Assistant

A new Google Assistant feature was announced Friday called Media Response API. XAPP has been working with a beta version of the Media Response API for several months during a developer review period. We are happy to say that three XAPP podcast customers are officially live on Google Assistant and Google Home today using the new capabilities.

March 1, 2018

Three Ways XAPP is Improving User Experience for Podcasts on Alexa

Many podcasters are surprised when their podcast shows up on Alexa, usually through a TuneIn integration. This is great until someone actually tries to listen - it is a totally broken user experience. That is what we set out to address with Voice Cast for Podcasters.

February 22, 2018

XAPPmedia Launches Voice Cast™ for Podcasts Enabling Podcasters to Get on Amazon Alexa in 5 Minutes

XAPPmedia today announced Voice Cast for Podcasts, a self-service solution for podcasters looking to quickly launch a custom Amazon Alexa skill. Voice Cast for Podcasts is built on XAPP’s One Voice AI SaaS platform that hosts and operates interactive voice apps for voice assistants such as Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Microsoft Cortana.

February 12, 2018

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Federated Media Lays Out Alexa Strategy for Radio Ink

Federated Media’s B100 was the first radio station to create a custom Alexa skill almost a year ago with the help of XAPPmedia. Recently, Radio Ink interviewed Federated’s Chief Strategy Officer and Director of Programming, James Derby, about how smart speakers fit into the radio broadcaster’s strategy.

February 9, 2018

Westwood One Brings the Winter Olympics to Amazon Alexa

Amazon Alexa users can access the Winter Olympics content by saying, “Alexa, open Westwood One Sports.” They will then be offered the opportunity to listen live if a live broadcast is underway, hear the most recent live broadcast on demand, or listen to summary highlights from the day. Westwood One collaborated with XAPPmedia to launch the Westwood One Alexa skill in time for the Olympic Games opening ceremonies on February 9th.

January 8, 2018

2017 Was the Year of the Smart Speaker, Voice Assistants and XAPPmedia

The biggest technology story of 2017 was clearly the rapid rise in smart speaker adoption and proliferation of voice assistant access into everyday appliances. XAPP quickly recognized the importance of this shift in consumer technology adoption for media organizations and brands. In 2016, we began optimizing our interactive voice platform, One Voice AI, to enable companies to quickly establish a presence on Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Microsoft Cortana individually and simultaneously.