Rayo - Bauer

Say hello to Rayo

Bauer Media was looking to grow reach and listening across their rich catalogue of audio content. So, they came to us with a clear ambition: unite their individual radio brands under a single app experience for the on-demand age.

We led product, ways of working, and design using a research-led approach from January 2022 until April 2023, working alongside Bauer’s content and marketing teams, specialist audio development team, app development, and branding agency partners to deliver a beta product.

We developed a beta product to kick start Bauer’s transformation from broadcast radio to digital audio company. From early discovery to beta launch, we put the first working version of the product into listeners’ hands, and iteratively improved the experience and roadmap through a robust hypothesis-driven, test-and-learn approach. By the time we wrapped, Bauer had an actionable roadmap and onboarded in-house team to ensure future success of their fresh new listening experience, now called Rayo.

Defining a vision that gives Bauer the edge

Along with Bauer, we defined a clear North Star metric for success: time spent listening.

• We built on Bauer’s initial market and audience research to create and test a series of critical product hypotheses across an 11-week discovery phase. This brought us clear new insights into what to build and what not to, so we could move from abstract opportunity to a tangible experience and actionable plan at pace.
• We shaped a proposition that could give Bauer the edge in a crowded and mature digital audio market: to be the antidote to the demands of on-demand, for the moments when you don’t want to play DJ, you just want to start listening.
• We incorporated features like mood-based content collections and a personalised For You page that recommends soon-to-be-favourites, to help listeners branch out from their usual listening habits, embrace the ‘lean back’ value of radio, and spend more time listening with Bauer Media Audio.

The cross-platform vision we brought to life re-introduced the energy and personality of radio into the way people choose, experience and share audio entertainment.

An iterative approach for a better beta

We believe that to really know how users will behave, you need to make something and watch them use it.

That’s why we moved quickly from vision to working software, designing and running a beta programme to test if people would actually use the product in the way we wanted them to by applying real behavioural data.

We delivered product iterations in the smallest possible increments and tested them with a community of 250 beta listeners over four months. Frequently innovating based on user research, then quickly bringing our changes back to them for further feedback allowed us to test our riskiest assumptions and reprioritise effort on highest value features. It also enabled us to build a longer-term roadmap for future development.

Throughout the process, we kept a laser focus on the North Star metric, driving a growth in time spent listening when it hit the market.

• 76%

  of beta cohort said they would download Rayo when it's available in the app store*
• ↗

  We increased average listening time from previous apps in first month following on-air launch
• 100+

  live stations streaming live 24/7 and 4,000 curated on-demand playlists on Rayo