Internet radio goes crazy
It’s a funny thing but if any of us think advertising via the net we tend to think CPC with Google or similar, or banner ads or maybe even Facebook campaigns. I’m pretty sure that none of us think radio. However, in its first earnings announcement as a publicly traded company, Pandora revealed that its Internet radio service now accounts for approximately 3.6% of all radio listening in the U.S.
That’s based on the roughly 1.8 billion hours its 100+ million users spent listening to the service during the second quarter, which was up 125% from the same period in the previous year.
In the UK we have seen similar trends; According to audience body RAJAR’s latest Internet radio survey, ‘MIDAS3’, Internet radio saw spectacular growth, with live streaming, on-demand and personalised radio stations all seeing the equivalent of over 100% annual growth in listeners, and over 12 million listened to Internet radio via live streaming or on-demand or the first time.
Nielsen’s latest paper clearly shows that more young women are using streaming services and listening hours is up in most markets. In the U.K., for example, the average user listened for 1:11:00 per month, up from 52:00 per month a year earlier. Spotify users were especially active listeners – they reached 2:00:00 in February.
Many of these people are thought be accessing the material through new devices such as the iPad.
The share of listening which comes through the web increased from 2.9 per cent to 3.6 per cent in the last year. Ten per cent of listeners now access programmes via the web.
This comes as the whole radio industry, including the BBC, has teamed up to launch an internet radio service, which it is hoped will boost online radio listening even more.
How does this effect us? Well…at the moment most of the internet only stations are offering seriously good rates for advertising, and as such are really good value. So why not take a punt – it could be worth it.