Great surge in
online radio listening

Way big with young. Shall we credit broadband? 

By Toni Fitzgerald
    As technology improves and broadband usage expands, internet webcasters are seeing their listening audiences grow dramatically.
   A recent MeasureCast study shows that time spent listening to online radio has jumped 159 percent since last year. 
   Blame it on the demise of Napster, which means one less centralized location to download free music.  Or chalk it up to improved broadband technology that makes streaming music sound almost like its traditional radio cousin. Whatever the reason, it’s good news for some of the world’s largest channels.
   And this is a worldwide phenomenon. British Virgin Radio topped the charts for the week ending Oct. 20, according to MeasureCast.
    The radio station showcases hot adult contemporary, meaning English faves Robbie Williams and Billy Bragg, alongside American acts Dave Matthews Band and Sheryl Crow.
   The core demographic for online radio is, not surprisingly, young but not too young. For the week of Oct. 14-20, 57 percent of listeners were younger than 35. Twenty-nine percent were younger than 25, and just 7 percent were more than 55.
   Men far outnumber women when it comes to web radio. In total, 71 percent of listeners were male.
   It’s not a stretch to say that many traditional top 40 radio stations cater to ‘tween and teen girls, with a bubbly blend of Britney Spears and, if they venture really edgy, Pearl Jam.
   Those looking for less-traditional fare these days head to the web, where the variety is nearly endless. MusicMatch’s ArtistMatch, which lets listeners select their tracks, ranked second behind Virgin, while jazz, classical and alternative stations (whose quality is up and down on the traditional AM/FM bands) followed.
   Two of the top 10 were Christian stations, again offerings that may not be available on the local dial. Ten of the top 15 were internet-only stations.
   In other internet ratings news, celebrities worked their way up the charts on the Lycos top 50 for the week ending Nov. 16.
   Actually, perhaps quasi-celebrity is a better description of Merlin Santana. The former “Cosby Show” and “Steve Harvey Show” actor jumped onto the charts at No. 13 for the first time ever.
    Sadly, it was his shooting murder last week that catalyzed the jump. Info-seekers turned to the net to see recent news about the boy who played Rudy Huxtable’s young beau.
   He had the highest debut of the week, passing another name that became famous in the ‘80s.
   Net gossip-mongers apparently became curious about Michael Jackson and his reconstructed face when the King of Pop appeared sans surgical mask in a California court last week.
    Lycos searchers probably looking for “before” and “after” pictures pushed Jackson to No. 33.
    For the first time ever during the first two weeks of November, “Veteran’s Day” didn’t crack the site’s top 50.

Top 25 parent companies
Through Nov. 10
#

Parent

Unique Audience (000)

Reach %

Time spent per person (hh:mm:ss)

1

AOL Time Warner

50,477

61.7

2:10:22

2

Microsoft

45,932

56.1

0:36:53

3

Yahoo!

36,808

45.0

0:48:12

4

Google

12,736

15.6

0:08:05

5

eBay

10,769

13.2

0:49:10

6

Terra Lycos

9,377

11.5

0:09:38

7

Amazon

8,693

10.6

0:10:11

8

RealNetworks

8,095

9.9

0:18:46

9

About-Primedia

7,958

9.7

0:08:41

10

United States Government

7,598

9.3

0:09:12

11

Sharman Networks

7,383

9.0

0:56:34

12

AT&T

6,577

8.0

0:13:05

13

Viacom International

6,368

7.8

0:17:56

14

Walt Disney Internet Group

5,728

7.0

0:10:16

15

The Gator Corporation

5,224

6.4

0:02:09

16

USA Interactive

5,182

6.3

0:13:43

17

eUniverse

4,763

5.8

0:06:51

18

Excite Network

4,527

5.5

0:33:05

19

EarthLink

4,469

5.5

1:57:00

20

Classmates

4,392

5.4

0:06:41

21

United Online

4,289

5.2

1:41:06

22

CNET Networks

4,133

5.1

0:07:49

23

WhenU.com

4,093

5.0

0:04:26

24

Landmark Communications

3,869

4.7

0:06:42

25

Apple Computer

3,731

4.6

0:04:14

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings,


Top 25 brands
Through Nov. 10
#

Parent

Unique Audience (000)

Reach %

Time spent per person (hh:mm:ss)

1

AOL

40,138

49.0

2:30:16

2

Yahoo!

36,780

44.9

0:48:14

3

MSN

35,710

43.6

0:36:26

4

Microsoft

32,438

39.6

0:12:06

5

Google

12,736

15.6

0:08:05

6

eBay

10,535

12.9

0:49:43

7

Lycos Networks

8,579

10.5

0:10:11

8

Amazon

8,497

10.4

0:09:30

9

Real

8,073

9.9

0:18:47

10

KaZaA

7,383

9.0

0:56:34

11

AT&T

6,577

8.0

0:13:05

12

Netscape

6,033

7.4

0:12:16

13

CNN

5,254

6.4

0:10:06

14

Gator Network

5,224

6.4

0:02:09

15

eUniverse

4,763

5.8

0:06:51

16

About Network

4,741

5.8

0:07:45

17

EarthLink

4,469

5.5

1:57:00

18

Classmates.com

4,392

5.4

0:06:34

19

whenu.com

4,093

5.0

0:04:26

20

Apple

3,731

4.6

0:04:14

21

EA Online

3,633

4.4

1:34:17

22

CallWave

3,622

4.4

0:12:52

23

Weather Channel

3,564

4.4

0:06:25

24

MapQuest

3,418

4.2

0:08:23

25

iWon

3,162

3.9

0:38:47

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings,


Top 25 advertisers
 (excludes house ads)
Through Nov. 10,
#

Company

Impressions
 (000)

1

Classmates Online, Inc.

1,433,452

2

Amazon.com, Inc.

937,229

3

The Estee Lauder Companies Inc

866,015

4

General Motors Corporation

576,057

5

USA Interactive

548,614

6

Hewlett Packard Company

449,870

7

SBC Communications, Inc.

406,583

8

Barnes & Noble, Inc.

378,216

9

Sabre Inc.

367,637

10

NetFlix.com, Inc.

343,995

11

CMGI, Inc.

334,840

12

AOL Time Warner Inc.

328,458

13

Colonize.com

322,268

14

Ameritrade Holding Corporation

318,503

15

Scottrade, Inc.

302,149

16

TD Bank Financial Group

299,728

17

Bertelsmann AG

284,044

18

eBay, Inc.

280,536

19

The Charles Schwab Corporation

270,598

20

Columbia House Company

266,597

21

AT&T Corp.

256,659

22

Bank One Corporation

240,925

23

buy.com, Inc.

232,537

24

Microsoft Corporation

232,093

25

Dell Computer Corporation

218,109

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance,

 

Top 25 advertising sites (excludes house ads)
Through Nov. 10, 2002
#

Company

Impressions (000)

1

Yahoo!

6,766,444

2

MSN

2,338,598

3

AOL.com

1,904,324

4

iWon

999,332

5

Netscape

671,368

6

MSNBC

415,109

7

ESPN.com

390,516

8

CompuServe

360,487

9

eBay

310,965

10

CBS MarketWatch

279,482

11

Classmates

265,525

12

Prodigy

242,105

13

The Weather Channel

217,301

14

CBS SportsLine

215,252

15

Excite

208,558

16

The New York Times

178,706

17

Realtor.com

177,550

18

Gamesville

138,271

19

NFL.com

128,708

20

NetZero

117,420

21

MapQuest.com

114,578

22

iVillage

110,237

23

Pogo

104,072

24

Webshots

102,025

25

CNN

101,493

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance,

 

Average use
Through Nov. 10, 2002
# Values

Current Week

Last Week

% Change
 

Number of Sessions per Week

7

7

0.00
 

Number of Sessions/Visits per Week

9

n/a

n/a
 

Number of Domains Visited per Week

18

n/a

n/a
 

Time Spent per Week

7:09:50

n/a

n/a
 

Time Spent During Web Visit

0:44:05

n/a

n/a
 

Total Digital Media Sample

42,368

n/a

n/a
 

Active Digital Media Universe

93,064,102

n/a

n/a
 

Current Digital Media Universe Estimate

167,378,155

n/a

n/a

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings,
NOTE: NetView traffic figures now incorporate AOL Proprietary Channels and Internet Applications Tracking with regular web traffic data. This data CANNOT be trended against data from previous weeks.

 

November 19, 2002© 2002 Media Life

-Toni Fitzgerald is a staff writer for Media Life.


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