Cleveland, Ohio, November 29, 2023 — Futuri, the leader in AI-powered software solutions for the media industry, today announced the formation of a new partnership with RCS, the world’s largest broadcast software company. Now, in addition to RCS automation Zetta fully integrating with Futuri AudioAI (formerly known as RadioGPT), the company will now resell that product and SpotOn, Futuri’s end-to-end solution for creating spec spots, commercials, and promos, in markets outside the US. 

The partnership comes as Futuri continues its global expansion. Since the February 2023 launch of Futuri AudioAI, the company has entered into several new agreements with partners like Audiotainment Südwest in Germany and Maison FG in France. The addition of RCS to Futuri’s network of international resellers provides additional support to help drive the company’s rapid growth.  

“Futuri has driven the conversation about the adoption of AI in the broadcast industry, and the response we’ve had from companies worldwide that want strategic AI solutions has been vast,” said Futuri Founder and CEO Daniel Anstandig. “We’re proud to partner with Philippe Generali and the fantastic team at RCS to help bring our solutions to the global markets that need them.” 

Generali, President and CEO of RCS, states, “Expanding upon our collaboration with Futuri, we leverage our respective strengths to propel new technology on a global scale. This partnership represents a noteworthy milestone in the evolution of audio creation and consumption. We are excited to reshape the media landscape, a tradition we have upheld for decades.”

For more information on SpotOn and Futuri AudioAI, visit FuturiMedia.com/SpotOn and FuturiAudioAI.com.

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Read more about it, and access the article “Unlocking the Power of AI: The Vital Role of Human Expertise,” in Inside Radio.

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Futuri Launches Futuri AudioAI, The Expanded and Rebranded Evolution of Its Revolutionary RadioGPT, The World’s First 100% AI-Driven Local Content System

Less than nine months after the groundbreaking launch of RadioGPT, Futuri’s rapid advancements in technology have enabled it to add new and enhanced features that make the evolved Futuri AudioAI system more powerful for radio and accessible to other forms of media.

Cleveland, Ohio, November 1, 2023 — Futuri, the leader in AI-powered software solutions for the media industry, today announced the launch of Futuri AudioAI, formerly known as RadioGPT.

The end-to-end content system, which combines automation system integration, Futuri’s TopicPulse story discovery AI, large language model (LLM) technology, and AI voice, has enhanced multiple features and added new capabilities. In response to industry demand, it’s also now accessible to television broadcasters, digital publishers, streaming stations, and others wanting to capture growth opportunities in live audio.

The new Futuri AudioAI integrates multiple LLMs — beyond the GPT-4 integration that was a component of RadioGPT — to develop content based on up-to-the-minute TopicPulse insights. Using multiple LLMs means the content Futuri AudioAI delivers is even stronger, and it better enables Futuri to improve the system continuously.

This enhancement also benefits Futuri AudioAI’s weather report capabilities, which enable stations to strengthen their live and local positioning by running sponsorable weather reports with live conditions around the clock — even overnights and weekends.

Futuri has also partnered with a network of powerhouse voice AI companies to augment its in-house AI voices, including ElevenLabs, PlayHT, and Resemble AI, to make voices from their portfolios available alongside those powered by in-house Futuri voice AI. These selections are all housed in Futuri’s Voice Choice Library, giving users access to a broad array of best-in-class options all in one place. Futuri AudioAI users can continue to clone their own talent to add to their own AI voice libraries.

“AI is evolving at warp speed, as are Futuri’s capabilities,” said Futuri CEO and Founder Daniel Anstandig. “Futuri AudioAI takes the best of RadioGPT, which has received an extraordinary worldwide response, and makes its core features more powerful. Plus, adding these esteemed AI voice partners to our Voice Choice Library gives our users unparalleled options to differentiate their sound. Futuri is proud to lead the way in AI innovation for media companies and content creators.”

Anstandig and other members of the Futuri team have recently delivered keynote addresses on the power of AI at conferences in London, Zurich, Oslo, Toronto, Copenhagen, Kuala Lumpur, and more, and Anstandig recently led a discussion on AI capabilities at the NAB Show New York’s Radio Insights: Executive Seminar.

The launch of Futuri AudioAI follows the July launch of SpotOn, the state-of-the-art AI solution that delivers end-to-end production — original scripts, music, and voiceover — for radio and television broadcasters looking to streamline the production of promos, spec spots, and commercials. In its first three months, SpotOn has generated more than 150,000 different pieces of custom audio with original, never reused scripts for its partners.

For more information on Futuri AudioAI, visit FuturiAudioAI.com.

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The scholarship is being awarded to a student who’s shown exceptional promise in advancing radio’s digital future. This scholarship will be awarded to one outstanding individual, who will receive an exclusive package comprising of a complimentary registration, hotel accommodations, and airfare to attend CRS 2024. In addition, the recipient will also enjoy one year of access to TopicPulse, Futuri’s AI-driven show prep system.

Those interested in being considered can apply for the scholarship here.

The Futuri Digital Pioneer Scholarship program joins the ranks of their esteemed scholarship initiatives, including the Lisa McKay and Rusty Walker scholarship programs, further demonstrating their commitment to educating and empowering individuals within the Country music industry.

CRB Executive Director, RJ Curtis, comments, “CRB has a long history of nurturing and encouraging ambitious, young industry professionals through our various scholarship programs. This new partnership with Fururi continues that mission, recognizes our evolving business by rewarding advancement of radio’s digital future, while further supporting CRB’s ‘Growth Through Sharing’ credo.”

Established in 1969 with a mission to provide a platform for education and a climate for growth, CRB has consistently embraced the philosophy of “Growth Through Sharing.”

Since its inception, CRB has fulfilled this mission by offering financial endowments to educational institutions with radio and communications programs. Additionally, they have been dedicated to supporting young industry professionals and those aspiring to join the Country broadcasting community through annual scholarship programs, which provide the opportunity to attend CRS at no expense. The Futuri Digital Pioneer Scholarship represents the latest chapter in this legacy of nurturing talent and fostering excellence within the industry.

The event is scheduled to take place from February 28 through March 1, 2024, at the Omni Nashville Hotel. In addition to this exceptional opportunity, the scholarship recipient will be honored during the week of CRS 2024.

Starting on October 25, applications for the new scholarship program can be submitted through the CRS website at www.countryradioseminar.com.

Funding for the Futuri Digital Pioneer Scholarship program is generously provided by Futuri, whose content, audience, and revenue technology is used by thousands of broadcasters worldwide.

To be eligible for this prestigious award, interested applicants must submit their applications through the website, www.countryradioseminar.com, by the application deadline of November 10, 2023.

CRS will be held February 28-March 1, 2024, and will feature a jam-packed schedule that includes Country Radio Seminar’s most anticipated events, including educational panels, virtual networking, and workshops designed to provide instant, actionable takeaways.

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“This is a great time for leaders in our industry to have a really clear, conscientious plan to use [AI] and make it part of our operations because it’s here and it’s transforming our industry.”

After speaking to a standing-room-only breakout session audience at MFM’s 63rd annual conference in Los Angeles last month, Futuri CEO & Founder Daniel Anstandig sat with John Sanders of Bond & Pecaro, one of MFMInSites’s regular “Office Hours” contributors and provided context around AI’s stratospheric growth, and even threw in a bit of a warning around the power of unregulated, unrestrained AI. 

Enjoy.

You can read more here: Media Village

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Cleveland, Ohio, July 11, 2023 — Futuri, the leader in AI-powered software solutions for the media industry, today announced the launch of SpotOn, a revolutionary new technology designed to streamline the commercial creative process. SpotOn optimizes AI to instantly generate effective, standout creative to vastly improve operational efficiencies and help close more business.

SpotOn is an end-to-end AI solution that uses generative AI to craft compelling copy to promote a client’s product or service. Users can select voiceover talent from a vast library of human-cloned or synthetic voices, available in dozens of languages. To finish the production, SpotOn offers a fully licensed music library designed to help users match the right tone and tempo to appeal to the audience, captivating their attention from start to finish.

 Each spot is meticulously structured and scripted to hit the right points and make a brand’s message resonate. Spots can run on-air as-is, or serve as a powerful first draft for a brand’s production team to fine-tune. The SpotOn system is so simple and intuitive that media account executives can even create commercials, “on the spot,” delivering the wow factor to earn the client’s business and expedite the sales process. The AI-powered audio production system can also generate spot tags and station liners.

 “Futuri’s SpotOn is yet another example of how AI can be an incredible assistant for growth. With SpotOn, brands can save countless hours by streamlining the production process and speeding up the sales cycle,” said Futuri CEO and Founder Daniel Anstandig. “Now sales teams can deliver spec spots and commercials to any client, regardless of size, instantly. We believe the best way to get clients to appreciate the power of audio is for them to hear it themselves, and SpotOn makes that possible at scale.”

For more information on SpotOn, visit FuturiMedia.com/SpotOn.

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Live, local, and powered by AI, RadioGPT marries GPT-3 technology with Futuri’s TopicPulse content discovery AI and voices generated by artificial intelligence to create the world’s first 100% AI-driven radio hosts.

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As the CFO at Futuri, I have the privilege of helping to shape our company to be the most powerful and important strategic technology partner to media companies. Our team takes joy in creating raving fans on a daily basis, and it’s a big part of our best-in-class culture and environment for all of our people to thrive.

We are constantly monitoring and proactively planning strategies to address the technology trends that are impacting our clients today and how they will evolve into the future. This foundation of product innovation is critical to our success, as so many of our partners, view us as an extension of their own teams and look to us to provide critical technology solutions to drive their business.

Last week, we launched our latest solution to help media companies and content creators grow their content, audience, and revenue — the North Star of what we do. the world’s first 100% AI-powered radio host. We know that broadcast’s secret sauce has always been about providing the audience with engaging local content that brings people together within their community every single day. With RadioGPT, every radio and tv station in the world can provide local content in real-time using AI-generated hosts and scripts powered by TopicPulse, our content discovery system that uses AI to give insights into the most engaging stories in local markets. Now, every show or shift can be local and live.

Futuri was founded almost 15 years ago on the premise “what if radio and TV were created after the internet? How would they be different?” The advancement in AI technologies has helped us take yet another step forward on this journey.

We’ve always been excited to bring innovative solutions to our partners to help them engage their audience and grow revenue. With the launch of RadioGPT, we were met with more questions than usual. Questions such as, “Is this really going to be good? Will consumers like it? What does it say about the future of radio and tv? Can a bot really be cool?”

At Futuri we have the mindset that innovation will never slow down; the most important thing is how you embrace that innovation. Still, the questions we received out of the gate had me reflecting on my twenty-plus years of being involved with the Technology and Media industry. In my prior life, pre-Futuri, I was a research analyst and portfolio manager for an investment management firm. Every day I woke up focused on understanding how technology trends and evolution would create winners and losers across the tech and media industries. Most of my work involved public investing, and thus, the principles of the book The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail was a constant component of my analysis. I was frequently analyzing and making investment decisions on large companies with big legacy businesses and profit pools to protect. The concepts from The Innovator’s Dilemma were on my mind nearly everyday.

The Innovator’s Dilemma is the name for a concept that has become increasingly relevant in today’s rapidly changing business world. The concept was first introduced by Clayton Christensen, a Harvard Business School professor, in his aforementioned 1997 book. The book describes the challenges faced by established companies in the face of disruptive technological innovations.

According to Christensen, companies face a dilemma when it comes to innovation. On one hand, they need to continue improving and advancing their current products and services to stay competitive. On the other hand, they need to be open to new technologies that may disrupt their current business model. This creates a dilemma because companies that focus too much on improving their existing products may miss out on new opportunities, while companies that focus too much on new technologies may neglect their core business. The Innovator’s Dilemma highlights the fact that disruptive technologies are often not initially embraced by established companies as they are conflicted by how new innovations will impact their existing business.

There are many to examine but a few of the greatest examples from my time as an analyst include:

Blockbuster (one of the most famous examples) was once the dominant player in the video rental industry. There was a Blockbuster on every corner and it was embedded in the way consumers viewed theatrical content in their homes. However, the rise of online streaming disrupted the industry, and Blockbuster was slow to adapt. The trends were becoming clear, but the company had a huge portfolio of stores and rental revenue to protect. Meanwhile, Netflix, which initially started as a DVD rental-by-mail service, recognized the potential of online streaming and began to focus on this technology. Famously, Blockbuster had a chance to acquire Netflix but it chose to stay its own course and effectively ignore the new streaming trend. Consumers loved the streaming innovation and Blockbuster’s legacy profit pool was under attack. As a result, Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy in 2010, while Netflix became one of the largest media companies in the world. Its current market cap remains well over $100 billion today.

Nokia was once the dominant player in the mobile phone industry, well before the rise of smartphones disrupted the industry. It had over 40% of the industry market share at its peak in 2007. It was a true mobile innovator and a force in the  industry. Nokia was the clear leader in mobile technology and brought mobile phones — think brick and flip phones — to the masses throughout the world. Despite recognizing the potential of smartphones, Nokia was hesitant to truly shift towards the new technology, as it saw it as a threat to its existing business model. We know what came next. Apple launched the iPhone, and Google accelerated the distribution of the Android Operating System to support its own mobile search efforts. As a result, Nokia lost its position as the market leader in the mobile phone industry. By the time it realized it was too late, Nokia had lost its way. It was eventually acquired by Microsoft for a small fraction of its peak market value.

There can be great outcomes as well for those that take a different path. Industry stalwarts Apple and Microsoft have had their own bouts with innovation and relevance. There was a time that Apple traded for nearly the cash on its balance sheet as it struggled with lost market share to Microsoft and the PC ecosystem. Then, behind the leadership of its iconic CEO Steve Jobs, it famously launched the iPod and re-established its position as a consumer phenomenon. Next up? The launch of the iPhone… The rest is history. Today it seems like a logical choice to let the iPhone compete with iPods or the iPad to compete with Macs, but that decision was not always so obvious. Apple chose wisely and today is one of the most valuable technology companies on the planet.

Likewise, Microsoft’s dominant Windows and Office franchise, after a meteoric rise, came under pressure as consumers moved away from desktop computing and embraced the internet. While the world was moving online, Microsoft was stuck focused solely on the Windows OS upgrade cycle. It was not until Satya Nadella, who  succeeded Steve Ballmer in 2014, came aboard as CEO and embraced the cloud that the company’s growth and market value accelerated higher once again.

Finally, the story of Adobe. At Futuri, as a growing provider of SaaS solutions, Adobe is one of the companies that we aspire to be like. However, this was not always the case. In the early days of the smartphone revolution, Adobe’s Flash technology was used for displaying multimedia content on websites, but didn’t really play well with smartphones. Steve Jobs and Apple publicly threatened to disrupt Adobe by not supporting Flash on Apple’s iOS devices. Jobs argued that Flash was unreliable, insecure, a battery hog, and that HTML5 was the future of web standards. Apple’s decision not to support Flash meant that users of iOS devices could not access Flash-based content on websites, which was a significant limitation given the popularity of iOS devices. Given Apple’s stance, many industry analysts were calling for the end of Adobe.

However, 10 years later, Adobe is stronger than ever. It correctly recognized the growing importance of cloud computing and shifted its focus from traditional software to cloud-based services and solutions. The company eventually developed a suite of cloud-based applications that includes popular products like Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. This shift, not without its risk at the time, allowed Adobe to move away from the traditional model of selling software licenses and instead offer subscription-based access to its products, providing more flexibility and convenience to its customers. Today, Adobe is worth close to $150 billion and is one of the most respected software companies in the world.

There are many other examples of companies embracing technology innovation, including global icons such as Nike, Amazon, and Visa. There are others where the success of the past gets in the way. Nobody is immune. Even today, some of the most important companies must manage through innovation and new trends. Google is already facing its own bout of The Innovator’s Dilemma as ChatGPT and AI will force it to respond and evolve. Search, one of the greatest businesses of all time, now must find its path to evolution and make large language model AI work for it. Google has clearly always proven itself when questioned in the market, but consumer action is speaking and even Google, regardless of its dominance, must now also evolve.

I could go on and on. However, the point is clear. Technology innovation will not stop for anyone. It is coming, and consumers of technology — including executives who make decisions on the technology they use to operate their businesses — will forever look for ways to accomplish their greatest needs and wants using the most advanced, accessible, and easiest-to-use methods available to them.

At Futuri, we have built our company on this premise. We embrace technology and are always looking one step ahead. We have embraced solutions that are important to our partners including essential solutions that engage audience and drive revenue.

We know trying to protect the past is futile. The evidence is clear: history has spoken. We are excited to be there for our partners on this journey and we will continue to push the envelope to make these technologies easy to use — and, more importantly, drivers of media companies’ and content creators’ content, audience, and revenue.

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Nearly every newsroom in America has attempted to use CrowdTangle in some capacity, but some have been caught unprepared by the news that CrowdTangle is ending support and will shut down the product. The good news is that many newsrooms had more valuable systems in place for understanding audience data.

An accurate and in-the-moment understanding of the topics and stories people are sharing and seeing on social media has enormous benefits for newsrooms, who are, after all, trying to report and create content about what interests the most people. Earlier this year, I wrote about how newsrooms were working to prepare for transparency legislation affecting social media, and how data could become available to newsrooms. Meta’s decision to close CrowdTangle shows that transparency has been uncomfortable for Facebook.

CrowdTangle was launched as an independent social monitoring tool, tracking which posts were getting the most traffic. Facebook bought it in 2016, then gave it for free to newsrooms under very specific conditions. Journalists log in using a personal Facebook account to access a depth of data culled from public Facebook Pages and Groups, Instagram accounts, and the most popular subreddits. But access was extremely limited, with most newsrooms only having a few people — who had to tell Facebook they were journalists — with access to CrowdTangle.

In other words, Facebook verified you as a journalist, then controlled the information it gave you.

It’s another reason newsrooms need to be careful not to put all their eggs into one basket. A reliance on data coming solely from one social media company could make it hard to know you are getting accurate data — and, as we now see, could end at any time the company finds it to be inconvenient.

What’s really trending on social media? What do audiences care about right now?

That’s one reason Futuri has always focused on a much broader range of data here at Futuri. With TopicPulse, the most advanced AI-driven social data tool, we track data from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and over 100,000 news publishers. Because we monitor all these different sources and publishers, our partners won’t be disrupted by one social company shutting something down.

We also include real-time analysis as part of the mix, helping monitor and manage the artificial intelligence that brings real-time, live demographic data and predictive analysis to thousands of stories every minute.

We believe in data, we believe in transparency, and we believe in constantly improving the best tools that help newsrooms spend less time unraveling the data behind trending stories so they can concentrate on serving their communities.

Here are our top pro tips to help your newsroom track social media for content:

1. Have a broad scope of data sources. Not only Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter… all of them +.
2. Choose information that can be widely accessed in your newsroom; if only one or two people have access, that’s a significant risk for you.
3. Track more than just the socials for your brand and your competitors’ brands; after all, that’s only a tiny portion of the average consumer’s social media activity.
4. Remember, it’s not a zero-sum game between you and the other TV, radio, and newspaper outlets in town. Social and digital platforms are virtually unlimited, and you have endless opportunities to grow your brand.
5. Keep a healthy skepticism about any platform that reports on itself.
6. Track trending news topics outside of your news team’s comfort zone. We tend to live in similar areas, follow similar social media, and only reflect a portion of our communities. Your content should reflect the entire community you’re covering, not only that portion for which your team may have an unconscious bias.
7. Ask for (or demand) transparency from the technology you use whenever possible, just as we should be as transparent as possible with our news consumers.
8. Ask your news team how much time they spend mining social media for news and tips. Then have them track it to get the actual number. Chances are, their time spent doing this is higher than it needs to be if they’re using the right technology.
9. Look for tools that can save your news team time and get them the essential information they need. The right AI can be an incredible tool that delivers an immediate positive impact on your team and your news content.
10. Take a look at what personal data your news team has had to share to get access to tech or social media data. Journalists are under fire as never before, and it’s a good idea to have a cybersecurity expert review the risks journalists have taken in exposing private information to tech and social media companies.
11. Stay up to date on changes in social, AI, and media technology by following Futuri Media on LinkedIn, Twitter, or your platform of choice.

Tim Wolff has 20+ years of experience as a digital and broadcasting leader who’s led top-performing teams across the country at companies including Gannet, Belo, and Cox Media Group Ohio, which includes three daily newspapers, three radio stations, WHIO-TV, and more. Wolff, who holds a Master’s in Journalism from the University of Missouri, also makes a mean green chile stew.

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Erin Callaghan, Director – Enterprise Partnerships at Futuri Media

“We’ve known we need to change for the last decade.  But no one is willing to do the hard things”

I heard this while talking with a TV client recently, and he said it with such resignation that it broke my heart.

The speed at which our business has changed in the last decade – even the last couple of years – is breathtaking.  Our industry faces complex challenges from without and within.

In content, we grapple with the kind of content our audiences expect, where they want to consume that content, how they want to engage with that content, how (and how often) we deliver that content.

In sales, we offer a myriad of options that change and grow seemingly daily.  Programmatic, OTT, OTA, the implications of ATSC 3.0, the many digital assets available, attribution.

Inside our industry, consolidation of companies, consolidation of roles, elimination of personnel and other internal pressures can leave us reacting more often than strategizing.

These complexities require us to forge new paths if we’re going to remain relevant and competitive.  So why do we keep traveling the same roads?

The ultimate barrier.

I think it’s fear.  Fear of making the wrong decision.  Fear of a tough earnings call.  Fear that we won’t have the time to implement a good idea.  In fact, I often wonder how many of the company examples in “Good to Great” would have been given the time to flourish in today’s environment.

But we must challenge ourselves and each other to push past that fear and take some risks.  Some of the best successes have come from taking risks.  Beyonce took a major risk in releasing her self-titled album in its entirety and with no prior promotion.  Ten years later, she shattered the record for most Grammy awards.  Even though Sylvester Stallone was strapped for cash and had a baby on the way when he wrote the ‘Rocky’ screenplay, he refused any offer that didn’t include him in the lead role.

Interesting that the wildly successful ‘Stranger Things’ found a home on Netflix after 20 networks rejected it.   It makes me think of Mark Zuckerberg’s admonition that “In a world that’s changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.”  I see many companies almost ensuring their failure with safe bets, small measures, and risk aversion.

How can we challenge ourselves to think differently?  

Embrace new experiences.  Whether it’s taking on a new challenge or trying something outside of your comfort zone, by changing up the routine, you may gain a fresh perspective or learn new skills that can help you reframe your approach.

Attend conferences.  If it’s not in the budget to go to CES or NAB, see what your local associations provide.  And read recaps of the bigger shows from those who DID attend.  The people you’ll meet – whether at national conferences or local events – can be sounding boards for what you’ve seen and learned.  They can also inject new viewpoints into your thought process.

Follow and listen to voices in the industry who are sharing their thought leadership.  I always enjoy Anstandig on the Future.  Our CEO covers a variety of topics that aren’t just limited to broadcast – but often challenge broadcasters to expand their horizons.

Collaborate with technology partners.  They often work at the forefront of emerging technologies and can either supply solutions that exist now or can help you co-create new products and solutions.

I’m not suggesting we build the next rocket ship or invent a new form of clean energy or find ways to harvest enough water to hydrate the deserts (I wish I was that smart!).  But we must challenge ourselves and each other to embrace new technology, question stale thinking, evaluate status quo, and make some bold moves.  A bright future awaits those willing to take the risks.  I hope to see you on the other side.

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