 RAIN 12/1: Broadcast radio not yet cashing in on online listening ·Dec 1, 11:15 AM WSJ: DESPITE LISTENING TRENDS, RADIO TRAILS OTHER MEDIA IN MONETIZING INTERNETThough Internet radio has more than doubled its audience in the past year, reaching 42 million listeners per week, it remains “slowest among the media industry to turn its Internet audience into cash,” writes Sarah McBride in The Wall Street Journal today.
Start with the low ad rates. Radio typically gets about half the CPM rate online that it gets for regular broadcast ads. On top of that, traditional radio buyers didn’t understand (or didn’t want to bother with) online radio. This, however, is changing. Jamie Bartholomew, VP/Local Broadcast at Interpublic Group’s Initiative in Los Angeles says “about half of her national radio clients buy spots on station streams as well as in over-the-airwaves broadcasts. That is up from about a quarter a year ago,” writes McBride. The focus is now turning to local advertising and its traditionally higher ad rates. McBride writes, “As streamed audiences continue to rise, One exception to the current pattern, McBride noted, is Internet-only radio as exemplified by services like Pandora. Such services “typically play far fewer ads” per hour than digital streams of AM/FM radio stations, which means they can “command high prices.” McBride cites recent research done by an ad buyer for a targeted Los Angeles campaign which found that ads on Pandora cost 20% more than buying regular over-the-air radio in the city. McBride quoted Pandora COO Tim Westergren as saying that his company expects 2009 revenue of about $40 million and to have its first profitable quarter this quarter. Read the entire article online here. NEW TARGETSPOT AFFILIATES INCLUDE TRIBUNE, EMMIS Online radio ad network TargetSpot has signed Tribune Broadcasting, Emmis Radio, Lincoln Financial Media, and ICBC Broadcast Holdings. TargetSpot affiliate roster is now over 75, and includes both broadcasters and pure-play webcasters. Here’s the press release.
STITCHER RELEASES ANDROID APPStitcher, which aggregates on-demand news and talk radio programming for mobile phones, has created an app for Android devices. Android is the Google-created open mobile platform. The free app is available from the Android Market or Stitcher.com for any device running version 1.6 or later of the Android OS (including the new Droid phone and the HTC myTouch 3G). The app can play in the background on Android phones, so a user can access other apps and still hear programming.
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CommentCommenting is closed for this article.  Other stories RAIN has upgraded (and moved)! RAIN 9/13: RAIN Summit Chicago takes place today! RAIN 9/12: First Summit in RAIN's hometown takes place tomorrow RAIN 9/9: Summer holidays, "doldrums" impact July Webcast Metrics, but audience up over last year RAIN 9/8: Clear Channel launches new customizable iHeartRadio beta; RAIN goes hands-on RAIN 9/7: Meet more speakers you'll hear at RAIN Summit Chicago in less than a week RAIN 9/6: Clear Channel taps The Echo Nest to take on Pandora RAIN 9/2: RAIN reviews Spotify's radio-like product Artist Radio RAIN 9/1: UK online radio aggregator Radioplayer campaigns b'dcasters to create "all radio" ratings RAIN 8/31: Execs from Merlin, Triton Digital, jacAPPS and more to appear at RAIN Summit Chicago |
that shift from national to local buying decisions should happen automatically, they say, with big advances in 2010 and 2011.” 
