According to the recent Arbitron 2009 Radio Today report, News/Talk/Information is still America’s number 1 format with a share of 12.6% of listeners over the age of 12. More people are listening to News/Talk radio via streaming, whether it is from their computer or wireless device.
And speaking of news/talk/information; streaming already accounts for 8-10% of CBS Radio’s total weekly audience, according to an Inside Radio article. These streams are reaching wireless devices too...There have been approximately 7 million downloads for CBS Radio apps on the iPhone, which include AOL Radio and Yahoo! Radio.
CBS Radio CTO Oli Stephenson commented, “The amount of listening taking place on mobile devices (the iPhone, more than any other) is pretty astonishing.” NPR product manager for mobile Demian Perry said, “Mobile is a way to grow NPR and commercial radio to larger audiences and to new listeners. It could be as big as [over-the-air] radio someday.”
Bridge Ratings projects mobile phone radio audiences to reach 40 million by 2015. Bridge Ratings estimates based on current converging trends, that while Internet radio will have 180 million listeners by 2020, 250 million will still be listening to terrestrial radio. Terrestrial radio won’t be abandoned, but more people will be listening to music/news/talk via streams because of the ease of accessibility.
