Middle East and North Africa’s (MENA) largest music platform, Anghami has launched its first-ever ‘Live Radio’ feature, which allows users to create and contribute to a social music-sharing experience.
According to the company statement, the users, 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 57 million tracks.
The new feature allows anyone to participate in a real-time version of a podcast experience, and users can bring communities together with live interaction by creating their own virtual events. It is available on both iOS and Android.
Elie Habib Co-founder – Anghami
“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 realize significant growth.”
Anghami introduced the beta version of Live Radio in mid-2020 with text chats and other features before the full launch, which now includes voice chat for the first time. Data from the beta phase shows that Anghami is reaping additional benefits in terms of user engagement and retention. For example, active social users have a 30 percent higher retention rate, and social users overall stream 33 percent more average daily seconds than a typical active user, as per the statement.
“Anghami has an established track record and user base which continues to help us build and leverage our wide range of consumer behavioral 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,” Mr. Habib added.
