NYC leads PPM markets in share of audience to streams of AM/FM stations 

The New York Radio Metro has the highest share (1.3%) of unweighted quarter hours credited to encoded Internet streams of AM/FM stations according to an analysis of October Portable People Meter survey reports released by Arbitron.

Across the 10 markets analyzed, encoded streams of AM/FM stations averaged a 1.0 share of unweighted quarter hours to all encoded radio.

The analysis, which is based on 233 encoded Internet streams of AM/FM radio stations in 10 PPM markets (Houston excluded due to Hurricane Ike), demonstrates that digital radio is an emerging extension of terrestrial radio broadcasts.

• Adult Contemporary and News Talk are the formats that have the highest share of quarter hours among encoded streams of AM/FM radio stations. 
• Digital radio listening is an “at-the-office” phenomenon based on PPM listening metrics for location of listening, employment status and education. 
• Digital radio listeners are concentrated in the 25-54 year old demographic.

In the October PPM survey reports (September 18-October 15, 2008), 233 Internet streams of AM/FM radio stations were credited with at least one quarter-hour of exposure among the more than 26,000 monthly in-tab respondents in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Dallas, Washington DC, Detroit and Riverside. (Embedded markets are included as part of the “core” metros.)

Internet streams of AM/FM stations have a 1.0 share of listening in 10 core PPM markets. The 233 encoded streams of AM/FM outlets in 10 core PPM markets account for 1.0% of total un-weighted quarter hours of listening, Monday-Sunday 6am-Midnight. The market with the highest share of listening to encoded AM/FM Internet streams (1.3%) is the New York radio metro.

Share of exposure to encoded streams of AM/FM stations 
Unweighted quarter hours to encoded media outlets 
Persons 6+ 
Monday-Sunday 6am-Midnight 
September 18-October 15, 2008

*Embedded markets include as part of core metros; Houston not included due to impact of Hurricane Ike 
** Digital radio stations selecting total line reporting (TLR) to terrestrial signal not counted in total.

Adult Contemporary and News Talk Information are the formats with highest share of un-weighted Quarter Hours among encoded streams of AM/FM stations. Adult Contemporary digital outlets account for 15.8% of the unweighted quarter hours of listening to Internet streams of AM/FM radio stations; News Talk Information outlets garnered a 14.9% share of digital radio exposure.

Format Share of Exposures 
Internet streams of AM/FM radio stations 
Persons 6+ 
Monday-Sunday 6am-Midnight 
September 18-October 15, 2008

 
Digital radio is an “at-the-office” medium 
A number of metrics indicate that listening to digital radio stations is an “at-work” phenomenon. For the total week (Monday-Sunday 6am-midnight), 74.1% of all exposure to digital radio occurs away from home. Most digital radio listening occurs among panelists who are employed full-time. Digital radio listeners are 32% more likely to be employed full-time than the population at large. In addition, Digital Radio listeners are highly educated. Digital radio listeners are 24% more likely to be College graduates than average.

Persons age 25-54 dominates digital radio listening. Digital radio listeners are 73% more likely than the population at large to be persons age 25 to 34; 40% more likely to be persons age 35 to 44 and 28% more likely to be age 45-54.

The number of Internet steaming stations meeting minimum reporting standards for Arbitron ratings in PPM markets is also growing. Out of 233 streams that had some listening recorded, total of 11 stations in nine markets made the grade in October. In the heart of the Silicon Valley, the embedded San Jose market within the larger San Francisco market, had three meet the minimum reporting standard: the Internet streams of KDFC-FM, KSAN-FM and KYLD-FM