Company News · March 17, 2008

Online Radio Reaches 33 Million Americans Per Week

By Tom Webster

The annual Infinite Dial 2008: Radio’s Digital Platforms put out by Arbitron (NYSE: ARB) and Edison Media Research, estimates that 33 million Americans age 12 or older listen to a radio station over the Internet during an average week – up from 29 million listeners one year ago. There is also a strong connection between online radio listening and social networking sites according to the study.
The complete study, which will be released in April 2008 and available at www.edisonresearch.com also found that:
* Thirteen percent of Americans age 12 or older (an estimated 33 million people) listened to online radio in the past week; an increase of two percentage points from January 2007
* While nearly one-quarter (24 percent) of all Americans age 12 or older have a profile on a social networking Web site such as MySpace, Facebook or Linked-In, 41% of weekly online radio listeners have a profile on sites such as these
* One-third of weekly online radio listeners with a social network profile visit their social networking site nearly every day or several times per day
* The top social networking Web sites among weekly online radio listeners are MySpace and Facebook. Thirty percent of weekly online radio listeners have a MySpace page, while 14 percent have a profile on Facebook.


“Social networking is clearly not about creating exclusive, self-enclosed communities,” said Diane Williams, senior analyst, custom research for Arbitron. “We found that online radio listeners are more than one and half times more likely to have a profile on a social networking site as compared to average Americans and that they tend to be power-users with one-third of online radio listeners logging on to their social networking site nearly every day or even multiple times per day.”
In addition to studying the correlation between social networkers and their online radio usage, the Infinite Dial 2008 report will detail the latest data on the general online radio listening universe and will explore how consumers interact and explore radio and all of its digital platforms.
Arbitron will host a Webinar in April to release the finding of the study. Details for this event will be released later in March.
About Edison Media Research
Edison Media Research conducts survey research and provides strategic information to radio stations, television stations, newspapers, cable networks, record labels, Internet companies and other media organizations. Edison Media Research works with many of the largest American radio ownership groups, including Entercom, ABC Radio, CBS Radio, Bonneville and Westwood One; and also conducts strategic and perceptual research for a broad array of companies including Time Warner, Google, Yahoo!, Sony Music, Princeton University, Northwestern University, Universal Music Group, Time Life Music and the Voice of America. Edison Media Research also conducts research for successful radio stations in South America, Africa, Asia, Canada and Europe. Edison Media Research also conducts all exit polls and election projections for the six major news organizations: ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX, and the Associated Press.
All of Edison Media Research’s industry studies can be found on the company’s Web site at www.edisonresearch.com and can be downloaded free of charge.
About Arbitron
Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB) is an international media and marketing research firm serving the media – radio, television, cable, online radio and out-of-home – as well as advertisers and advertising agencies in the United States and Europe. Arbitron’s core businesses are measuring network and local market radio audiences across the United States; surveying the retail, media and product patterns of local market consumers; and providing application software used for analyzing media audience and marketing information data. The company has developed the Portable People MeterTM, a new technology for media and marketing research.
Arbitron’s marketing and business units are supported by a world-renowned research and technology organization located in Columbia, Maryland. Arbitron has approximately 1,900 employees; its executive offices are located in New York City.
Through its Scarborough Research joint venture with The Nielsen Company, Arbitron provides additional media and marketing research services to the broadcast television, newspaper and online industries.

Get our latest insights delivered to your inbox.