GeoBroadcast Solutions has relaunched as Aktira as the company moves to expand commercial deployment of its FM coverage and geo-targeting technology with broadcasters, advertisers and technology partners.<\/p>\n
Aktira will house the company\u2019s intellectual property, engineering and commercial operations, including MaxxCasting, ZoneCasting and Lazer. The existing GeoBroadcast Solutions team will remain in place as the company shifts from individual station deployments toward enterprise agreements with broadcast groups.<\/p>\n
MaxxCasting uses synchronized transmitters to strengthen FM coverage within a station\u2019s market, while ZoneCasting uses FCC-approved FM boosters to divide a station\u2019s coverage area into geographic zones. That allows different commercials to air in individual zones during the same break, creating additional over-the-air inventory that can be targeted to specific retail trade areas, event venues and other locations.<\/p>\n
Lazer provides the attribution component, adding synchronized visual content and QR codes to compatible vehicle displays. Consumer engagement can then be matched to the geographic zone and radio spot.<\/p>\n
Aktira says more than 15 MaxxCasting deployments have been completed or initiated, representing an estimated 13 million incremental listeners nationwide. Existing deployments span markets including New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Boston, with the company in discussions with several major radio operators about expanded deployment.<\/p>\n
The company is also changing how broadcasters can access the technology. Under its new enterprise model, Aktira plans to provide the equipment required to deploy its systems without upfront capital costs. In exchange, Aktira will share in the advertising revenue generated through the platform.<\/p>\n
The company says ZoneCasting inventory can be sold directly or through programmatic buyers using private marketplace and programmatic guaranteed deals. The combination of ZoneCasting and Lazer is designed to create an integrated system for creating, selling and measuring geographically targeted over-the-air advertising.<\/p>\n
Aktira pointed to several recent applications of its technology. In a field test with Dentsu and Jack in the Box on KSJO-FM in San Jose, commercials were targeted to the Dublin, Pleasanton and Livermore area. The company said the campaign generated a 37% increase in localized ad recall along with higher store traffic in the targeted zones.<\/p>\n
During Super Bowl LX weekend in February, the technology was also used on Audacy\u2019s \u201c95.7 The Game\u201d KGMZ-FM in San Francisco to deliver RDS-based traffic, parking, weather and venue information to vehicle dashboards within approximately six miles of Levi\u2019s Stadium.<\/p>\n
Aktira is also building out its commercial and financial operations as it moves toward broader deployment. Ken Shapiro is leading commercial strategy and go-to-market efforts, while Louis Santor is handling financial strategy. Quire and Jason Anderson are working on strategy and capital. The company is currently raising new equity and debt growth capital to expand its team, accelerate deployments in priority markets and fund commercial partnerships.<\/p>\n
Lead investors Jennifer and Brian White said the company spent years developing its technology, intellectual property and regulatory approvals before the relaunch. They said the new structure is intended to turn that foundation into a business capable of scaling MaxxCasting, ZoneCasting and Lazer across the broadcast industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GeoBroadcast Solutions has relaunched as Aktira as the company moves to expand commercial deployment of its FM coverage…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":860218,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,7056,216,3],"class_list":["post-860217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-free","tag-music","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=860217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/860218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=860217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=860217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=860217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}