Internet Radio Listening Surges

Yikes! Needed to dust-off the cobwebs on this blog before I was able to post. I promise not to let this go so long next time.

I thought I'd start off this first post of the new year (I only waited until the last day of the month!) with some new stats and trends on Internet Radio. The information below shows that (as I've been saying for quite sometime) that the measurement of Internet Radio is far more effective and accurate than the measurement tools of "Arbitrarytron." That's why even when your station's ratings take a dip (or even a DIVE) your website traffic and streaming audio stats will most likely stay business-as-usual.

On to the info...

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Internet Radio Listening Surges
The past several years have been a time of go-go growth for Internet radio, as better measuring tools have provided an accurate way to size-up the audience and made it possible to offerefficient delivery of audience to advertisers, says JP Morgan Securities analyst John Blackledge in hisInternet Radio Scorecard for December 2006, released Tuesday (Jan. 23).

He says modernization of the business recently has allowed Internet radio to grow "substantially over the past several years."

"We believe the Internet radio ad market was roughly $500 million in 2006, or about 2.5% of the $20 billion traditional radio advertising market," Blackledge concludes from the data.

"We believe about $100 million-$150 million is derived from a bundling of terrestrial radio and Internet radio ads, as well as banner ads on the Web sites."

Blackledge's study finds that the Internet radio audience had grown to about 30 million listeners perweek in January 2006, up from 20 million in January 2005. Internet radio's monthly audience has increased about 27% annually since 2000.

"Overall, unique visitors to all of Internet radio grew 22% year over year in December 2006, to about59 million," Blackledge reports. "Since December 2005, the Internet radio audience has grown at a 1.6% monthly compounded rate."

Internet radio's return on investment "has helped the medium monetize increasing audience trends, given that Internet radio's measurement is efficient, effective and more accurate than terrestrial radio," the analyst found.

"Internet radio CPMs have grown substantially over the past few years, given increasing audience andthe positive ROI benefits.

We believe Internet radio CPMs have grown from about $1 in 2003 to about $5-6 (on average) in 2006 vs. about $3-7 CPMs for terrestrial radio networks and $10-12 for terrestrial spots."

Source: Radio and Records