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Internet Radio Rises on Terrestrial Radio’s Decline
By Anna Johnson on September 15th, 2009In its report, ‘Internet Radio Makes Waves’, eMarketer says terrestrial radio will continue to struggle in 2009 as advertising expenditure drops by 18 percent from that in 2008, resulting in ad revenues of $14.5 billion. In fact, according to the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) the first quarter of 2009 was the industry’s worst quarter ever in terms of ad spending.
That doesn’t mean radio per se is doomed. Indeed, as terrestrial radio stations decline, Internet radio stations are benefiting from growing ad revenues year over year, making Internet radio one of the fastest-growing online media categories.
ZenithOptimedia expects advertisers to spend $260 million on Internet radio and another $28 million on podcasting for a combined total of $288 million in 2009, a rise of 28 percent from the spend in 2008. By 2011, the combined figure is forecast to hit nearly $394 million.
The number of Internet radio listeners is also, as you might imagine, on the rise. Based on Arbitron and Edison Research, 42 million Americans aged 12 and over listen to online radio in a given week, up from 33 million in 2008.
The appeal of Internet radio and podcasting is hard to miss: producers and consumers enjoy much more targeted and niche content, which in turn attracts niche advertisers, as well as advertisers that can apply their budgets fairly cost-effectively across multiple networks.
Source: eMarketer, “Internet Radio Revs Up,” eMarketer, September 9, 2009
