Analysis: OnLine Spot Load Decreased During 1Q 2015

XAPPmedia has released the Internet Radio Ad Load Report for Q1 2015.

This is the second edition in a continuing series. In February they released an analysis of Internet radio ad load (i.e. the amount of listening time per hour consumed by advertisements) during the 2014 holiday season. The Q1 analysis includes the addition of a fifth Internet radio publisher and more extensive consideration of advertiser concentration among the publishers.

Ad Load declined between Q4 2014 and Q1 2015 by an average of 23-26 seconds per listening hour. That is nearly the equivalent of removing one ad per Internet radio listening hour. We attribute the decline to two phenomena:

• A natural reduction in advertiser spending after the holiday season
• A rise in Internet radio listening meant ads were spread across more listening hours

Despite the Ad Load decline, more advertisers were identified in Q1 than in Q4. Total unique advertisers identified rose from 75 to 165. The rise is in part explained by an additional month of ad tracking, but the growth exceeded expectations. The Internet radio advertiser base appears to be getting both larger and more diverse. Advertisers are no doubt interested in Internet radio’s extensive reach with mobile consumers.

The Internet Radio Ad Load Report now has five months of listening data so broader trends are starting to come into focus. Our hope is that the Ad Load Reports will become useful industry resources that shed light on the growing ad-supported streaming music listening experience. Thirteen charts are embedded in sixteen pages of analysis including:

• Ad Load by Quarter, Month and Publisher
• Ad Units Per Hour by Quarter, Month and Publisher
• Time to First Ad (TTFA) and First Ad Distribution by Time from Session Start
• Total Advertisers Categorized by National and Local Focus
• Advertiser Concentration by Publisher