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The weekly audience for online radio has increased "significantly" in the past year, says the study, as 'Net radio now reaches 17 percent of the U.S. 12+ population each week. That's up from 13 percent a year ago. And online radio reaches 20 percent of 25-54s, up from 15 percent in 2008.

"The sharp growth in weekly usage of online radio in this year's study provides compelling evidence that radio's digital platforms may be reaching critical mass," said Arbitron SVP/Marketing Bill Rose. "The growth of online radio is reinforced with what we are seeing in PPM. We are beginning to see encoded streams of AM/FM broadcasts with significant audience in local markets."

But AM-FM radio continues to be important to listeners -- 21 percent of respondents said it has a "big impact" on their lives. That puts it behind only cellphones in general, reported as having a big impact by 47 percent of respondents, and Apple's iPhone, with 23 percent.

Ownership of iPods and other portable MP3 players also grows, and is now at 42 percent of people 12+, up from 37 percent a year ago and tripling 2005's figure of 14 percent. Only 14 percent of those 12 and older say they're spending less time with radio because they have an MP3 player -- but 32 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds and 18-24s says they're spending less time with radio because of the time they spend with the MP3 player.

Online video is booming as well, with 27 percent of Americans (about 69 million people) watching video weekly, up from 18 percent a year ago. And so is social networking -- a full one-third of persons 12+ have a profile on Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, or similar site, up from 24 percent in 2008. Among 12-17s, the figure is closer to two-thirds (63 percent), and the same is true for 18-24s (64 percent). Podcasting is growing, too, with 22 percent of those 12+ having ever heard a podcast, up from 18 percent a year ago.

Edison Research VP/Strategy & Marketing Tom Webster said, "Consumer use of new digital platforms such as iPods and social networking sites is becoming nearly ubiquitous. This represents a window of opportunity for radio to reinvent itself by spreading its content across the expanding choices consumers use to control their media experience."

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