Vurbl Disrupts Audio Industry with Creator-First Audio Streaming Platform

Consumer audio streaming behavior has shifted this year due to the coronavirus. While we continue to navigate the waters of uncertainty, one thing remains clear: consumers are spending more time at home and on the go with their connected devices and streaming all types of audio more than ever. However, audio is scattered across the internet in hard to find places, much of it costs money, discoverability continues to be a challenge and cohesive playback across audio types is not easy. Until Vurbl, there was no one-stop-shop for audio content.

Today, Vurbl breaks ground in the audio ecosystem with the launch of its revolutionary online platform bringing the world of audio to one place, with over 20 million curated audio files at launch, content creators can add to the audio library by creating their own stations to grow their audience and monetize their audio creations.

Vurbl is a home for audio of all types, including user generated audio, like YouTube is for video. The platform gives audio creators a place to host, build an audience, and earn ad revenue from their content. For listeners, it’s a one-stop-shop for free learning and entertainment in the form of audio and is a mix of user curated and Vurbl Expert curated content by Vurbl’s staff in the form of playlists and stations. Users can listen to all types of great audio across 40+ categories, thousands of playlists and millions of audio files, all in one place.

“We do believe our timing for Vurbl’s launch could not be better for the product itself. More than ever, people are searching for free digital entertainment and learning resources to fill the time they used to spend at events, parties, social gatherings and work,” said Audra Gold, CEO and co-founder of Vurbl. “We see millions of audio queries on Google and YouTube that reflect demand for audio but the results are generally pretty dismal. Discovery is hard, cohesive consumption experience is harder, and advertisers have very few options in reaching all the people out there consuming free audio -- especially in real-time programmatic. This has led to a huge missed opportunity for brands and the creators that can be making money from their content.”

Vurbl’s Benefits and Features:

Vurbl’s platform offers over 20 million audio files in a streamlined user experience with both human curated and algorithmically generated audio recommendations and playlists. Vurbl follows the YouTube framework — it is a centralized place any user can upload any content they own, Vurbl streams it, supports embeds and facilitates audience building and monetization via real-time programmatic ads.

For listeners, Vurbl saves users valuable time instead of spending tireless hours searching the internet for audio. Vurbl’s library offers over 40+ audio categories, thousands of playlists and millions of audio files, all in one place.

Creators can stream, aggregate audience, access critical data, gain awareness and monetize short clips with ads and earn revenue any time their audio file is played. For podcasters and YouTubers that already have lots of audio content, Vurbl can automatically port YouTube channels to a Vurbl audio station. Vurbl has also published nearly 500k English language podcasts that can be ”claimed” by their creators.

Advertisers can use Vurbl to target audio listeners with real-time programmatic audio advertising. Advertisers can target by category, behavior or demos and buy against any vertical in real-time. Currently, other podcast platforms offer dynamic insert which is a poor way to buy/sell and has held the audio industry back. Additionally, advertisers can measure audio buys in completely new ways.

Paid audio content platforms such as Patreon and Spotify can leverage Vurbl’s platform to publish clips and teasers to promote their paid shows. Podcast trailers, behind the scenes and out-takes published on Vurbl can drive awareness and audience growth to their paid content. Vurbl makes it easy to clip and share audio via embeds on any webpage or social platform that supports html.

In September, Vurbl announced it’s pre-seed round closed at $1.3 million. The round was led by AlphaEdison with other participants including Halogen Ventures, TEN13, Angellist and several strategic angel investors from the audio, advertising and entertainment spaces.

The company plans to announce additional updates including the launch of mobile apps, a downloadable desktop app and connected in-home devices for listeners to enjoy audio streams anytime and anywhere.

To reserve your free Vurbl account, please visit: https://vurbl.com/.

Connect with the Vurbl team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

About Vurbl

Vurbl is a creator-first, free streaming audio platform for all audio types, including user generated audio, across 40 categories. Vurbl is revolutionizing the way people distribute and listen to audio-centric information across the web. Just like YouTube, Vurbl allows content creators to upload, earn subscribers and monetize their work. Audra Everett Gold founded Vurbl earlier this year with the idea of a different and unique streaming site solely for audio creators.