Making Media
Episode 34 Flying Under the Radar with Flightradar24
Making Media

Episode 34: Flying Under the Radar with Flightradar24

Making Media

Episode 34

Flying Under the Radar with Flightradar24

Fredrik Lindahl is the CEO of Flightradar24. We cover how Flightrader24 tracks 250,000 flights using crowdsourced information, how they grew to 50 million users a month, and how they built a lucrative subscription business.

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(00:03:52) - (First question) - Exploring FlightRadar24's global tracking network and its technical complexity
(00:02:15) - FlightRadar24's growth from local to global via volunteer networks and Raspberry Pi
(00:08:44) - Challenges in Africa and Cuba due to low population and bandwidth
(00:09:56) - How FlightRadar24 evolved from a SEO tool to a standalone flight-tracking business
(00:12:57) - Why their tech-heavy team prioritizes UX/UI and data quality
(00:15:15) - Setting themselves apart via a user-friendly design and quick media responsiveness
(00:17:12) - Striking a balance between info depth and usability
(00:18:21) - How the real-time data and sheer volume of planes make FlightRadar24 addictive
(00:19:54) - Adapting from one-off payments to subscriptions was a risk that ultimately paid off
(00:29:59) - Using programmatic ads due to diverse, international user base
(00:25:01) - Started B2B due to inquiries, serving aviation and other industries
(00:27:01) - How EasyJet integrated FlightRadar24's SDK to offer real-time flight tracking in their app
(00:28:12) - FlightRadar24's content serves two goals: promoting hosting and engaging users
(00:30:07) - Why covering contributors, professionals, enthusiasts, and casual users is central to their strategy
(00:32:33) - Providing relevant data to media without speculation, allowing accurate reporting
(00:34:45) - Engaging media and users through crowdsourcing, receiver hosts, photos, and tracked flights
(00:36:07) - Looking at Weather Underground, AllTrails, and MarineTraffic for crowdsourcing and comparison
(00:37:56) - Considering price comparison, but competitive OTA space requires clear user intent
(00:40:04) - Debrief

 

Flying Under the Radar with Flightradar24

Introduction

Dom
Welcome back to Making Media. Today, we're speaking about a business that might not qualify as a traditional media company, but it does attract millions of people to its content every day and I, for one, am a huge, huge fan. The business is called Flightradar24, and I'm delighted to be joined by its CEO, Fredrik Lindahl.

Flightradar24 started as a hobby in 2006 when 2 Swedes were looking for a way to boost traffic to their price comparison website. As plane enthusiast, they installed receivers on the roofs of their homes to track planes over Stockholm, and they set up a map for others to see which planes were overhead.

The side project soon took over though and became the main venture and the company's attention shifted to tracking planes ever since. And Fredrik, who joined in 2012 and as his first assignment, incorporated Flightradar24. The business has gone from strength to strength since then and is now the clear leader in flight tracking globally.

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