Online Radio Listening Increases

A recent survey done by Arbitron and Edison Research produced some very interesting results that have a number of ramifications for artists and bands. First, some pertinent points:

• Monthly online radio now reaches 39% of the American population, or about 103 million people. This is up 5% from last year.

• Listeners spend about 10 hours per week listening to online radio.

• The vast majority of online radio listeners (87%) also listen to over the air terrestrial radio.

• 22% of online radio listeners listened to Pandora, up from 16% last year.

• 17% have listened to online radio from their cell phone.

• When it comes to work, 68% still listen on a regular radio

• 45% of the population has watched videos on YouTube (only 45%?). This is up from 41% last year.

• People spend about 4 and a half minutes watching video per week (half of what they spend listening to radio).

• 88% of Americans own a cell phone. Half of them own a smartphone.

• Nearly 2/3rds of 18-34's own a smartphone.

• 60% own a portable digital media device, meaning an iPod, iPhone, iPad, MP3 player, tablet or Android smartphone. Two-thirds of them own an Apple device.

What all this means is that the line is beginning to blur between media distribution and devices. Soon people will look at "radio" to mean all types of radio, not just online, especially as more and more people become smartphone users. This will happen with all forms of media as well. People will just expect everything to work on every device from every source and won't distinguish between online or terrestrial. It make take a little time, but that time is coming.

What that means for musicians is that you have to be extra vigilant with your mobile strategy, since if it's not critical to your marketing at the moment, that time is just around the corner.

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More People Own TVs Than Cellphones

It's been estimated that out of the 7 billion people on this planet, 2 billion of them own cell phones. But in the US, the cell phone still is not as popular as the one common object statistically found in every household - the television.

According to Nielsen, 290 million Americans in 114.7 million households own at least one TV. If you compare that with the 234 million cellphone owners, the 211 million Americans who are online, and the 116 million (ages 13 and up) who surf the mobile web, television is still the medium of choice for most people of all ages.

Want some more stats? Nearly one-third (35.9 million) of TV-owning households have four or more televisions (wow!), and only 17.5 million households have exactly one television.

So what do these figures mean? First of all, cellphones are still a growth market. We keep hearing that mobile is the future, and it surely is for audio, picture and the Internet. There may come a time when most of our consumption may be on handheld devices, but that time is not now. Of course, if the new OLED televisions as thin as wallpaper come down in price, all bets are off.

But more than anything, these statistics tell us that television is still the major media consumption device in our lives, bar none. Sure, it's losing it's power to other devices, but that's because we're becoming a multi-device culture. But don't underestimate the TV's power, because it's still there and will continue flexing its muscles for a long time.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.