New Studies Show Explosive Growth In Net Radio

Several new surveys show explosive growth in the internet radio sector.  According to RAIN, "…a new annual study from Arbitron and Edison Media Research indicates the number of weekly Internet radio listeners nationwide has jumped 50% over last year."

"In previous studies’ measurements from January 2003, 2004, and 2005, cume Internet radio listening remained nearly steady at about 8%. This new study, titled "The Infinite Dial: Radio’s Digital Platforms," shows that as of January 2006 that figure boomed 50%. "

"In other words, 12% of the U.S. population now regularly listens to Internet radio…"

And a MediaWeek reports that…"since Howard Stern joined Sirius in January, traffic to Sirius’ site surpassed XM’s, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. In March, Sirius’ Web traffic grew 188 percent compared to a year ago, from 666,000 unique visitors to 1.9 million in March. XM’s traffic grew 47 percent to nearly 1.7 million."

"…Both satellite services are generating return Web traffic on par with other popular audio sites, including Rhapsody, Clear Channel Music Radio Network, and MSN Network. For the month of March, XM averaged 3.7 visits per person, while Sirius averaged 3.5 visits. Rhapsody averaged 3.8 visits per person, Clear Channel 3.7, and MSN 2.7."

And all this growth is before net radio becomes readily available via cell or more ubiquitous WiFi/WiMax.