BAUER MEDIA APP
Design Lead . UX . UI
Re-envisioning the future of entertainment for Bauer Media’s portfolio of radio apps
Bauer Media Group is a leading global media company, owning hundreds of magazines and radio stations around the world, reaching 22 million UK adults. In the UK it operates dozens of radio stations including Kiss FM, Absolute, Magic, Jazz FM, Scala, and Kerrang. They also unite their fans through in-person entertainment and live events.
However, when lockdown restrictions hit the nation, Bauer Media seized the opportunity to reimagine the listening experience, reignite their fan base, and drive deeper engagement within their apps to gain the loyalty of existing fans and capture the attention of a wider audience, particularly millennials.
CHALLENGE
During Covid-19, when live music stopped due to the pandemic, the question that became most urgent was “How can we ease the loneliness of being apart by leveraging the unique benefits of live radio through our portfolio of radio apps?
The brief challenged us to create a new feature for the Bauer Media Apps that could help ease the loneliness of being apart and drive a deeper connection with digital entertainment.
We had 6 weeks to find a viable solution, so we focused our work on three missions: How might we increase engagement across Bauer Media Apps, how might we attract new listeners (particularly younger ones) and how might we create new revenue opportunities through new and exciting listening experiences?
MY ROLE
As the lead product, I led the discovery and design approach in close collaboration with the product team at Bauer Media. Together with their team and a dedicated researcher, we ran the project discovery from kick-off through to delivery where we handed over a build-ready product and a set of recommendations for future iterations and enhancements.
APPROACH
We began with empathy by studying the habits, wants, and needs of radio listeners. We conducted a survey with over 750 radio listeners to understand their live event experiences and expectations during and after the pandemic. Then, we held 1:1 and group interviews with listeners to learn about their at-home event experiences, motivations, and behaviours.
Additionally, we spent time with producers from Bauer’s radio stations to understand how they create compelling content and engage audiences through events. This insight guided our product design process to meet the genuine desires of both listeners and creators.
INSIGHTS
We learned that no two people have exactly the same music taste and what brings people together is a common love for music and particular artists.
People identify with the communities they belong to and they don’t want to be left out when all others are listening or watching something they love. The fear of missing out is more prevalent in younger listeners.
There’s an opportunity to grow micro-communities focused on their niche tastes.
Duration is key to the fundamental value of the entertainment offered and the bar has been set very high by other entertainment providers.
CONCEPTS
Building on these insights, we hosted a series of cross-functional workshops with a set of focus areas to explore. Together, we built out the product opportunity space and generated a load of exciting ideas and directions to explore further. From there, I took the sketches and created many rapid prototypes, conducted thorough testing, asked important questions, gathered insights, and iterated on the designs to deliver the final product.
“Working with the Loomery team was fantastic. Over four weeks we learned loads from listeners and created an impressive prototype to validate a new concept. I hope we get to work together again”
— Kathryn Molloy, Head of Innovation, Bauer Media
CONCLUSION
I loved working with the team from Bauer on this. Whilst there’s nothing quite like attending a gig, capturing some of the magic of live listening was an exciting brief and I’m excited to see the new experience roll out to music lovers across Europe. The new feature will be rolling out to Bauer’s apps over the summer, look out for it on the App Store and Google Play.
