Internet radio industry and audience measurement
Ando Media President/COO Robert Maccini has written an article for us that takes a look at issues surrounding AFTRA-induced ad substitution; how Internet radio is poised to overtake radio in ad revenue, and also poised to become completely mobile to the general consumer. Certainly, PCs are about to start showing up in vehicles, allowing streaming audio, e-mail, traffic info, etc. Ford's SYNC technology is the precursor to seeing mobile internet in the dashboard, as each car will have its own IP address that will scan for WiFi, WiMax and connect to a cellular account when needed. Radio shouldn't be quite as alarmed as satellite radio, however, as folks will choose to spend any disposable income on subscriptions for car internet vs. car satellite service in a heartbeat-the streaming audio would be free with the package! And remember, someone listening to a radio station a thousand miles away would be credited as listening via systems like Ando Media.
Read Maccini's full article in Monday's RBR/TVBR Intel Brief-delivered to your InBox.
For now, here are some excerpts:
Internet radio industry and audience measurement
As an advertiser would you rather purchase advertising on a medium where exact audience measurement is available or a medium where it is being estimated? I'm sure it is not difficult to guess what an advertiser would choose. This is one of the inherent differences between Internet radio and terrestrial radio.
Internet radio has the ability to provide actual audience data as compared with only estimates for terrestrial radio. Even the current evolution created by PPM still reflects an estimate of audience, albeit a better system than paper diaries. PPM is important due to the fact that over 22 Billion of advertising is bought based for the most part on Arbitron data. However, in 2008 Internet revenue is projected to surpass radio revenue for the first time.
Historical measurement involves collecting log file data. Every time an Internet radio listener connects to a stream a log is generated. Among this information is IP address, name of stream, time connected and time disconnected. From this information Ando Media generates traditional radio audience metrics including Average Quarter Hour, Cume, Average Time Spent Listening, and Total Time Spent Listening. These audience metrics are the same stats as reported by Arbitron for terrestrial radio. However, with Internet radio the information reflects actual results and not an estimate.
Through its Webcast MetricsTM product, Ando measures the audience of over 4,000 internet radio stations. AQH and Cume audience has grown dramatically this year as can be seen below:
AQH has increased 35.4% from January - December and Cume has increased 38.9% from April - December.
