Secures a strategic relationship with Eastlan, the second largest ratings agency in the USA 

JOHANNESBURG – Tritech Media, the leading media technology innovator controlled by the Kirsh family, today announced the launch of portfolio company ColonyLive in the United States of America (USA), in the Group’s second foray internationally.

Tritech recently established Stellr India, its prepaid distribution business in

India, following the success of Stellr Africa. ColonyLive is a software-as-a-service platform that provides radio stations with engaged audience metrics and advertisers with (return on investment) ROI readings. The technology was developed in South Africa over the last three years and is a world-first.

ColonyLive currently represents some 80% of commercial radio stations and 26 community radio stations in South Africa in addition to radio stations in Botswana, Kenya, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Eastlan Ratings (Eastlan), the second-largest ratings agency in the USA has sealed an exclusive strategic relationship with ColonyLive, to complement its existing business. Eastlan represents over 1 000 radio stations across 90 radio markets, including affiliates.

The entry-level product for ColonyLive provides on-air presenters with a highly valuable real-time, customizable panel-style dashboard to easily segment, search, view and reply to all interactions and campaigns across all digital channels.  Importantly, valuable data from all interactions with listeners is mined and analysed, providing a station and its advertisers with ROI analytics showing who is engaged with a station and its campaigns.

William Kirsh, founder and CEO of Tritech Media commented: “The US is the most lucrative radio market in the world spanning some 16 000 radio stations. With advertising revenues under pressure and listening time declining, ColonyLive provides stations and advertisers with valuable, actionable live metrics to reverse this trend.

The credibility and weight of Eastlan will help ColonyLive to significantly accelerate its growth plans in the US”.Eastlan has, in the first six weeks since going live in the USA, enabled ColonyLive to secure radio stations in California, as well as in Seattle, Tennessee and Texas that are all completing advanced testing, with a strong pipeline building.

Marco Broccardo, CEO of ColonyLive, now based in Austin, Texas commented: “Given Eastlan’s twenty-year history as a leader in providing audience research, this partnership is the perfect fit. With Eastlan we herald a new era where radio

stations and podcasters can gauge audience engagement in real-time and share incredible return readings with advertisers”.

The relationship with Eastlan has already motivated enhancements to the ColonyLive platform to advance the real-time gathering of research data, thus providing Eastlan with a significant competitive advantage. Mike Gould, CEO of Eastlan Ratings commented: “ColonyLive is a cost-effective way for radio to gain real-time qualitative data about its audience. It’s the first platform of its kind in the US to aggregate listener interactions into one simple-to-understand message board. We are very excited about this technology that we believe is set to revolutionise radio analytics and advertising ROI”. William Kirsh concluded: “I
believe the ingredients to a successful media technology business are: a substantial market need; unique, highly scalable technology; nimble, fast distribution and advantageous access to data.
ColonyLive meets all these criteria and is well-positioned to provide radio stations with a distinct competitive edge”.
14 November 2018 For more information visit
www.colonylive.com.
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Johannes van Niekerk: 082 921 9110