Developed in-house, Live Radio builds on Anghami’s existing social features to capture an increased share of the growing social audio market.
MENA music streaming platform Anghami has announced the launch of its live music and voice experience, ‘Live Radio’. Developed in-house by Anghami, this is the first time a streaming service globally enables users and contributors to create a social audio experience for sharing music, conversation, and more.
Live Radio offers a combination of music and voice functions for the first time, allowing any user to both listen and talk in real-time. Any user, including artists, DJs, content creators and music influencers, will be able to talk alongside playing songs, playlists and podcasts from Anghami’s library of over 57m tracks. It gives everyone the chance to participate in a real-time version of a podcast experience and, by creating their own virtual events, users will be able to bring together communities with live interaction. Other features include applauding the host, sending text comments, meeting other participants and side-chats.
Speaking about the new launch, Elie Habib, Co-founder and Chairman of Anghami, said: “The social elements of music have always been part of our vision. In fact, ‘live radio rooms’ were part of our original business pitch in 2011, as we saw the opportunity for social audio features to take off. Having been integrating social features such as stories and chats since 2017, now we are leading the way in delivering the next level of social audio to our users and our contributors. With the pandemic keeping people at home and apart, the intimacy of voice and the need to be closer to others has become more valuable and we expect to see the social audio market realise significant growth.”
Anghami launched Live Radio in beta in mid-2020, featuring text chats and other functionality ahead of the full launch which now includes voice chat for the first time. Data from the beta-phase demonstrates the additional benefits for Anghami in terms of user engagement and retention.
Elie Habib added: “Anghami has an established track record and user base which continues to help us build and leverage our wide range of consumer behavioural data to create local experiences. Our beta launch in mid-2020 displayed how focusing on creating communities and adding interaction has been our best strategic asset, boosting engagement and retention – and a tribute to the region and the music that brings it together.”
Live Radio continues to build on Anghami’s commitment to supporting new and established creative talent. The forthcoming launch of Premium Live Radio and tokens provides the opportunity for artists and creators to introduce subscription-only channels and other revenue streams.
