'Net Catching Radio For Music Discovery
April 8, 2010: Arbitron and Edison Research have released the results from the latest in the long-running series of "Infinite Dial" surveys on radio and digital, and report that the Internet has passed radio as a source of music discovery among younger consumers.
Asked where they turn to learn about new music, 52 percent of respondents ages 12 to 34 said it's the Internet, while 32 percent said radio was their first choice. TV was the top choice of 10 percent, and newspapers of 2 percent.
For the respondents overall, radio still leads; 39 percent picked radio for music discovery, with the Internet coming in at 31 percent, TV at 12 percent, and newspapers at 3 percent. But that's a substantial change from 2002, when a full 63 percent said radio was their first choice to learn about new music, and the Internet was cited by 9 percent.
Arbitron SVP/Marketing Bill Rose said on today's webinar on the survey that music discovery is "a dangerous image to lose if you are in the radio business" and said radio must set a "credible image" as a source of new music. Later in the call, discussing the implications of the findings, Rose said of music discovery,"This used to be the franchise of AM/FM radio, and it's something radio should be very mindful of protecting as best they can."
As previously reported, the survey also found that the Internet has surpassed television as the medium Americans are least likely to be willing to give up if they had to make a choice, and that nearly half of Americans believe printed newspapers will cease to exist -- although, as Edison VP/Strategy & Research Tom Webster pointed out in the webinar, that applies only to the printed paper. He said, "The [newspaper] industry doesn't have a news problem, it has a paper problem."
About 84 percent of Americans now have Internet access from any location, a figure that's leveled off over the past few years, and 84 percent of those who have Internet access at home have broadband, versus 13 percent with dialup. A striking 62 percent of homes with Internet access have a home WiFi network in place -- and that brings its own opportunities, Webster said, as multiple WiFi-enabled devices (and the 45 percent of homes that have two or more working computers) "open up opportunities for radio that they may not have considered."
Desirable Online Audience
The study also found that 52 percent of Americans have ever listened to online radio, with 27 percent listening in the last month, and 17 percent within the last week. That weekly number is flat with 2009 and up from 13 percent in 2008 and just 2 percent back in 2000. Weekly online listeners tend to have full-time jobs (61 percent vs. 42 percent of people 12+), and upscale, with 18 percent making $100,000 a year or more compared to 10 percent of persons 12+. Fifty-five percent have a college degree or higher, vs. 36 percent of the 12+ population.
And why do they spend time with online radio? "To choose or control the music being played" was the top choice of 20 percent of respondents, with "more music variety" cited by 17 percent. "Fewer commercials" was a main reason for listening online for 14 percent, but, as Rose noted, "that distinction may fade somewhat over time" as online radio adds more advertising.
Pandora was the "clear leader" in unprompted awareness in the survey, named by 28 percent of respondents who had ever listened to online audio. In second place but well back at 9 percent was Yahoo, followed by AOL Radio at 6 percent, and Last.fm at 4 percent.
The monthly online listeners are choosing mostly Internet-only streams, with 55 percent saying they listen to Web-only programming more often compared to 40 percent for AM/FM streams. That's a change from the 2006 study, when AM/FM streams were heard more by 48 percent compared to 46 percent for 'Net-onlys.
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