Yet more growth
for internet radio

Percentage of surfers who tune in has tripled

By Toni Fitzgerald

    Most people continue to listen to traditional radio, but a growing number of Americans are switching their allegiance to online radio.
   Since January 2000, when internet radio usage was a mere 5 percent of the active online population per month, it has more than tripled, to 17 percent, according to a study from Arbitron and Edison Media Research.
   The study also reports that more Americans have sampled internet radio at some point -- some 34 percent, up from 25 percent in first-quarter 2002.
   Another big increase has come in the area of internet-only radio. In 2003, 19 percent of respondents said they had used it. In 2002, that number was just 12 percent.
   Perhaps quality has something to do with the increase in numbers. A July 2001 Arbitron-Edison Media Research study found that 26 percent “liked or loved” internet radio.
   This year that grew to 35 percent, many of whom are, not surprisingly, young. Listeners ages 18-24 comprise the largest group of online audio listeners (43 percent), with 25-34s at second with 36 percent.
   One group that doesn’t seem to have much use for web radio is 45-54s. Their time spent listening dropped from 2001 to 2002, the only age group to do so.
   Many of the most popular online music stations remain the same. Longtime No. 1 America Online’s Radio@Network, MusicMatch, Yahoo’s music station and Virgin Radio are consistently among the most popular.
   During May, two jazz and two classical stations claimed four of the top 10 spots.
   Meanwhile, the premiere of “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle” in theaters last week drove traffic to the Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment site.
   Sonypictures.com recorded 636,000 unique visitors for the week ending June 22, with 18 percent visiting the “Angels” page.
    Other sites served 16.7 million “Angels” ad impressions for the week ending June 15, making the girls nearly unavoidable.
   Still, just as at the box office, the second “Angels” movie may not better the first. When that was released in November 2000, it helped Sony Pictures draw 1.7 million visitors.

 

Top 25 parent companies
Through June 22


#

Parent

Unique Audience (000)

Reach %

Time spent per person 
(hh:mm:ss)

1

AOL Time Warner

47,904

56.9

2:02:47

2

Microsoft

47,695

56.6

0:35:03

3

Yahoo!

39,777

47.2

0:44:46

4

Google

15,863

18.8

0:07:37

5

eBay

13,999

16.6

0:42:50

6

Amazon

9,234

11.0

0:09:13

7

United States Government

8,103

9.6

0:11:52

8

Terra Lycos

7,914

9.4

0:11:47

9

RealNetworks

7,495

8.9

0:15:31

10

WhenU

7,181

8.5

0:05:27

11

Sharman Networks

7,175

8.5

0:52:47

12

USA Interactive

6,629

7.9

0:15:38

13

About-Primedia

5,974

7.1

0:06:58

14

Excite Network

5,731

6.8

0:23:03

15

Walt Disney Internet Group

5,490

6.5

0:12:59

16

Landmark Communications

5,311

6.3

0:05:44

17

Viacom International

5,112

6.1

0:14:02

18

AT&T

5,016

6.0

0:16:32

19

EarthLink

4,947

5.9

0:42:08

20

United Online

4,891

5.8

0:49:35

21

eUniverse

4,890

5.8

0:07:11

22

InfoSpace Network

4,110

4.9

0:07:30

23

The Gator Corporation

4,092

4.9

0:01:44

24

AWS Convergence Technologies

3,951

4.7

0:07:56

25

CNET Networks

3,951

4.7

0:06:32

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings,



Top 25 brands
Through June 22


#

Parent

Unique Audience (000)

Reach %

Time spent 
per person (hh:mm:ss)

1

MSN

40,485

48.1

0:32:13

2

Yahoo!

39,777

47.2

0:44:46

3

AOL

37,660

44.7

2:27:02

4

Microsoft

32,762

38.9

0:11:13

5

Google

15,863

18.8

0:07:37

6

eBay

13,542

16.1

0:41:50

7

Amazon

8,910

10.6

0:08:13

8

Real

7,460

8.9

0:15:31

9

KaZaA

7,175

8.5

0:52:47

10

WhenU

7,099

8.4

0:05:31

11

Netscape

5,957

7.1

0:12:27

12

About Network

5,414

6.4

0:06:42

13

AT&T

5,016

6.0

0:16:32

14

eUniverse

4,890

5.8

0:07:11

15

MapQuest

4,843

5.8

0:07:44

16

Weather Channel

4,837

5.7

0:05:36

17

EarthLink

4,516

5.4

0:45:04

18

Gator Network

4,022

4.8

0:01:44

19

WeatherBug.com

3,903

4.6

0:07:56

20

Apple

3,697

4.4

0:03:56

21

EA Online

3,592

4.3

1:14:51

22

McAfee

3,569

4.2

0:07:32

23

CNN

3,544

4.2

0:07:35

24

Terra Networks

3,533

4.2

0:03:01

25

Lycos Networks

3,489

4.1

0:14:48

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings,



Top 25 advertisers 
(excludes house ads)
Through June 22


#

Company

Impressions (000)

1

HomeGain.com, Inc.

1,081,373

2

Homestore, Inc.

1,073,875

3

Citigroup Inc.

896,094

4

NetFlix.com, Inc.

443,554

5

SBC Communications, Inc.

437,569

6

Amazon.com, Inc.

427,977

7

Vivendi Universal S.A.

421,977

8

Classmates Online, Inc.

410,038

9

USA Interactive

408,059

10

Ameritrade Holding Corporation

386,983

11

Apollo Group, Inc.

360,944

12

Scottrade, Inc.

304,594

13

Bank One Corporation

287,740

14

Weblink Wireless

272,857

15

CoolSavings, Inc.

252,877

16

eBay Third Party Auction

245,321

17

TD Bank Financial Group

242,855

18

Sabre Holdings Inc.

224,379

19

Dell Computer Corporation

205,030

20

State Farm Insurance Company

201,961

21

Intuit, Inc.

195,435

22

The Walt Disney Corporation

188,975

23

AOL Time Warner Inc.

185,254

24

Lavalife Inc.

180,075

25

Ford Motor Company

171,199

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance,



Top 25 advertising sites
 (excludes house ads)
Through June
22


#

Company

Impressions (000)

1

Yahoo!

7,908,737

2

MSN

3,123,895

3

iWon

728,902

4

AOL.com

580,542

5

eBay

487,508

6

ESPN.com

396,862

7

MSNBC

350,623

8

The Weather Channel

350,047

9

Netscape

320,107

10

Juno

318,707

11

CNN

289,328

12

Excite

235,106

13

CBS MarketWatch

223,805

14

Classmates

208,022

15

Pogo

207,945

16

CompuServe

204,622

17

AT&T Worldnet

197,023

18

MLB.com

195,443

19

NetZero

164,664

20

Lycos

145,347

21

The New York Times

144,214

22

Realtor.com

109,839

23

bankrate.com

108,567

24

Monster.com

99,172

25

USA TODAY

91,767

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance



   

Average use
Through June 22


   

Current Week

Last Week

% Change

Number of Sessions/Visits per Week

9

9

0

Number of Domains Visited per Week

20

19

5.26

Time Spent per Week

7:37:15

7:32:26

1.07

Time Spent During Web Visit

0:49:26

0:48:53

1.13

Active Digital Media Universe

94,312,083

95,185,817

-0.92

Current Digital Media Universe Estimate

177,547,278

177,547,202

0

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings


 

 

July 1, 2003© 2003 Media Life


-Toni Fitzgerald  is a staff writer for Media Life.


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