The music download site Ruckus, which provides an ad-supported music service for College students, announced it has reached an average of 20 million downloads monthly. They added the service is now being used in over 1,000 college campuses around the United States.
On their Website, the company says there are now 700,000 subscribers to the network. Included with the library there are over 3 million music tracks and over 4,000 TV programs and movies to choose from.
Mashable also reported on a few new features now included with the service:
"These new social networking components include the ability to share top ten lists, most played, and recently played, as well as reviews. You can also get school-specific updates for other Ruckus users.
"The company has also launched a Facebook application to better reach the college communities. The Facebook app lets you add your favorite songs, and see the songs on your friends’ favorites lists. Songs can then be downloaded for free. Additionally, the new media player has some improved search features, as well as better syncing so music can become mobile with the Ruckus-To-Go portable service."
There's a lot of room for products and services related to the college crowd. Most college students have the will to consume but not necessarily the means. It's one reason the ad-supported service offered by Ruckus works so well in this demographic.
While this model will work for young people the majority of the time, with the concerns of the ecomony, not just in the U.S. but worldwide, we will probably see a period of time where people tighten up their spending habits. That means people will look more toward ad-supported offerings as their preferred way of consuming content in its variety of forms. Something to think about in your strategies.
It doesn't mean we should abandon something that has worked great in the past, just that we may want to offer ad-supported products or services as an option to our customers.
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