The Changing Tide of Internet Radio

A new study by Bridge Ratings supported by data from Internet radio measurement firm Ando Media, concludes that over the last six months consumer passion about Internet Pure Play radio, primarily paced by the strength of Pandora,  has increased significantly while listenership to terrestrial radio Internet simulcast has slipped.

Founded in 2004, Ando Media is the leading provider of real-time audience measurement and ads management solutions for the internet audio market.

With recent Bridge Ratings studies showing accelerating growth among Internet radio listeners of all ages, Bridge says they were curious as to the growth as reflected in Ando Media's "Webcast Metrics" numbers which are generated real time by actual listening.

They took the "Webcast Metrics" figures from Ando Media's November 2009 release and compared them to those of June 2010. The numbers reflected here represent Ando's "Average Active Sessions" metric which is a measure of the average number of streams of one minute or more that are active within a time period. The time period reflected in the following analysis is Monday through Friday 6am - 8pm.

Why is Pure Play greatly outpacing terrestrially-delivered on-line radio listening?

Terrestrial radio companies have still not committed to the concept of differentiating their on-line content product from their terrestrial streams. Unique program opportunities exist for traditional radio on-line, yet few companies are taking the initiative to pursue these opportunities.

Perhaps it has to do with the fact that program directors of traditional stations don't have the time or ability to devote to proactive content development.

Ando Media's Chief Operating Officer, Paul Krasinski offers three reasons why Pure Play has the advantage:

1. The user content experience is better.

2. Pure Play streaming networks understand their audience better and they have the ability to target those listeners effectively for advertisers.

3. Pricing discipline. Pure Play operators understand both the realities and potential of on-line ad pricing.

Read more here.