Internet Radio, FM Saviour or Killer?

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The latest study from Arbitron and Edison Research focuses on a rapidly changing media landscape. While radio and television continue to have near-universal reach, Americans are embracing a variety of media platforms that didn’t exist at the beginning of the new millennium. Consider these findings that were presented during the Infinite Dial 2011 Webinar:

  • The weekly online radio audience has doubled every five years since 2001 and the Online Radio audience now reaches an estimated 57 million people age 12 and older per week.
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  • More than half of all Americans ages 12 and older are on Facebook. The study, fielded in January of 2011, indicates 51% of every teen, man or woman has a profile on this dominant site.
  • Ten percent of all Americans age 12 and older report weekly listening to the Internet Radio service Pandora.
  • In the upcoming 2011 Infinite Dial report, Arbitron, Inc.and Edison Research measured the ‘love factor’ for dozens of products and services.  The iPhone was the clear “love factor” leader with 66% of its users saying they ‘love it.’ The next highest love factor was for, perhaps predictably, the Apple iPad, with 53%.
  • When asked to choose among Television, Radio, Newspapers and Internet as the ‘most essential to your life,’ the Internet is the leader by a significant margin.
  • Forty-five percent of all Americans age 12 and older say the Internet is their most essential medium.
  • The median age of heavy users of Radio (41 years old) nearly matches that of the 12+ population; the median age of heavy Internet users is 36 years old, with heavy TV users having a median age of 48.

Download the complete study and report here

From NiemanLab.org

You may have heard the worries of public radio leaders: When in-car streaming radio gets better, it’ll be a serious threat to all those stations built around a terrestrial FM signal. Is that true? Arbitron, the radio ratings authority, says one in five Americans (22 percent) is streaming audio on a weekly basis, and the number of people doing so in cars has nearly doubled from a year ago.

Do listeners still prefer FM Radio? Click here