Audience Response Systems

What Audience Response Systems does

Audience Response Systems, Inc. (ARS) is a privately held U.S. corporation founded in 1984 and headquartered in Henderson, Kentucky, with additional offices in Boonville, Indiana and Tuckahoe, New York. The company provides radio frequency-based wireless audience response hardware, a suite of proprietary polling and voting software, and turn-key interactive event services. Its core technology combines purpose-built handheld wireless keypads (Fleetwood), browser-based polling platforms (PushOne / Poller 2.0), and PowerPoint Add-In software (SNAP, ARS Pro, EdiVote Pro) to convert passive audiences into active participants in live meetings, with real-time data collection, visualization, and export.

ARS generates revenue through four streams: full-service meeting events (equipment rental plus on-site field representatives handling setup, operation, and strike), software licensing (sold by keypad capacity), recurring software support and updates, and hardware sales and rental. Pricing is custom-quote-based rather than publicly disclosed. The company serves Fortune 500 to Fortune 5000 corporate and institutional customers across verticals including Continuing Medical Education (pre/post testing and accreditation), compliance and ethics training, property management associations, voting and elections (House of Delegates, stockholder, partner, and corporate officer elections), and trial research and jury simulation. Long-tenure customer relationships (10+ years documented with NAVEX Global, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, St. Mary's Medical Center, and IDS SpA) indicate durable retention in a niche professional-services-plus-software business.

Geographically, ARS delivers full-service events domestically and internationally, supported by on-site field representatives rather than a remote-first model. Marketing and sales are largely website-driven (content/resources/toll-free 1-800-INVOLVE) with direct enterprise field sales. The firm has no disclosed funding rounds, no institutional investors, no M&A, and no leadership turnover in the data set, suggesting long-stable private ownership and a mature, slow-moving operating posture.

Name

Audience Response Systems

Legal name

Audience Response Systems, Inc.

Website

https://audienceresponse.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1984

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

ARS provides radio frequency-based wireless audience response hardware, proprietary polling software integrated with Microsoft PowerPoint, and full-service interactive event delivery primarily serving Fortune 500 to 5000 corporate and institutional customers in the US and internationally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Audience Polling Software

NAICS

Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (541910), Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services (5418)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Advertising (7310)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYMPAAALAM

Audience Measurement & Media Research (Ratings, Attribution, Media Mix Insights)

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Advertising, Marketing & PR Services/Market Research & Consumer Insights

SECONDARYFSAFALAD

Proxy Voting & Shareholder Meeting Services

Financial & Insurance/Financial Exchanges & Market Infrastructure/Post-Trade Processing & Corporate Actions Services

SECONDARYBPAFADAO

Event PR & Communications Support

Business & Public Services/Marketing, Advertising & PR Services/Public Relations & Communications

Keywords

• Audience response systems
• Interactive polling software
• Wireless voting keypads
• Event engagement services
• Voting and elections software

Headquarters

HQ city

Evansville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Full-Service Meeting Events: ARS provides turn-key audience interaction services including equipment rental, field representatives, question preparation, and post-meeting reporting. Customers provide meeting goals and question content; ARS handles all execution.
2. Software Licensing: Sale and licensing of polling software products including SNAP, ARS Pro, OwnARS, and EdiVote Pro. Software is licensed by keypad capacity and supports various PowerPoint versions.
3. Software Subscriptions and Support: Ongoing software support and updates for licensed products, including telephone technical support and troubleshooting assistance.
4. Hardware Sales and Rental: Sale and rental of wireless response system equipment including keypads, wireless interfaces, and related hardware components.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Audience Response Systems, Inc. sells proprietary audience polling software (SNAP, ARS Pro, OwnARS, EdiVote Pro, PushOne/Poller 2.0, wInquiry, ProVoter) and radio frequency wireless keypad hardware, and delivers turn-key interactive meeting services with on-site field representatives who run full-service events for corporate, healthcare, and institutional clients. The company also provides research services including moment-to-moment Pulse polling with HD video overlay and Wi-Fi tablet-based data collection.

Product overview

Audience Response Systems offers a portfolio of audience polling products consisting of proprietary software platforms and hardware systems. The software lineup includes SNAP (PowerPoint Add-In polling), ARS Pro (professional-level PowerPoint-integrated polling), PushOne/Poller 2.0 (browser-based web polling), wInquiry (data collection and reporting), OwnARS (property management voting), EdiVote Pro (PowerPoint Add-In for voting), and ProVoter (house-of-delegates voting). Hardware includes Fleetwood wireless handheld keypads. Services encompass Pulse moment-to-moment polling with video overlay, wireless tablet data collection, Data Viewer analytics, audio-visual services, and full-service meeting support with on-site representatives.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• SNAP: Software package for adding automatic polling of multiple choice questions into Microsoft PowerPoint presentations. Detects installed Fleetwood Mini, Mini+ or Plus wireless response keypad polling system and requires no special authoring beyond standard PowerPoint enumerated list format. Supports quiz gaming for individuals and up to 10 teams, individual response tracking by name, impromptu-style polling, sub-group filtering, and comparative graphing for pre/post test polling. Saves data in Microsoft Office and HTML formats.
• ARS Pro
• OwnARS
• EdiVote Pro
• Data Viewer
• Pulse
• wInquiry
• ProVoter
• PushOne / Poller 2.0

Products and services

• SNAP
• ARS Pro
• OwnARS
• EdiVote Pro
• PushOne (Poller 2.0)
• wInquiry
• ProVoter
• Fleetwood Wireless Keypads
• Pulse Polling
• Wireless Tablet Data Collection
• Data Viewer
• Audio Visual Services
• Full-Service Meetings

Quantifiable outcome

• Enables real-time feedback during presentations allowing speakers to adjust content on-the-fly
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature8 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Mentimeter: Browser-based interactive presentation and audience polling platform. Directly competes with ARS's PushOne/Poller 2.0 for enterprise meetings and presentations without dedicated hardware.
• Slido: Audience interaction and Q&A polling platform (owned by Cisco/Webex). Competes with PushOne and ARS Pro for live meeting polling, Q&A, and quizzes in enterprise and event settings.
• Poll Everywhere: Web and mobile audience response system used in lectures, training, and corporate meetings. Closely comparable to SNAP/ARS Pro given PowerPoint integration and education/enterprise focus.
• Turning Technologies (TurningPoint): Audience response system with clickers and software used heavily in higher education and corporate training. Direct competitor to ARS's Fleetwood keypad + software stack.
• Option Technologies (OptionPower / Q&A): Provider of audience response keypads and software with PowerPoint integration. Direct overlap with ARS Fleetwood keypads and ARS Pro software stack.

Emerging players

• Wooclap: Interactive presentation and polling platform popular in European higher education and corporate training. Comparable to ARS Pro/SNAP for browser-based audience interaction.
• Vevox: Cloud-based live polling and Q&A platform focused on education and enterprise meetings. Competes with PushOne and ARS Pro on browser-based polling without dedicated hardware.
• Pigeonhole Live: Live Q&A, polling, and audience engagement platform for events and conferences. Overlaps with ARS full-service meeting offerings and PushOne for event-driven use cases.

Broad incumbents

• Microsoft (PowerPoint + Forms + Teams Polls): Owns the PowerPoint platform on which ARS's flagship products are built, and offers native polling/Forms/Teams Polls that compete at the low end of the audience response market.

Regional players

• Infowhyse GmbH (Reply system): European maker of Reply audience response keypads and software referenced as compatible with ARS offerings. Competes in the same hardware-plus-software audience response category in Europe.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/audienceresponse1
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/audience-response-systems-inc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Audience Response Systems