Posts from Internet Radio

Our portfolio company TargetSpot recently conducted two large research studies on the Internet Radio listener. For those that don't know, TargetSpot is the leading third party advertising network for streaming audio.

I've been an Internet Radio/Streaming Audio listener for over a decade and have always thought that Internet Radio listeners represented an ideal demographic for marketers to reach and influence. The TargetSpot research confirms that and then some. Internet Radio listeners are a "super demographic" and marketers should pay attention to this research and start creating programs to reach them.

Here are some of the findings:

– 39% of the US population listens to Internet Radio regularly

– Internet Radio listeners are affluent and influential

– 80% of Internet Radio listeners spend between 1 & 3 hours per day listening

– 45% of Internet Radio listeners listen on a phone and 14% listen on a tablet

– 73% change stations throughout the day. Internet Radio listeners are not exclusive to any one service

– 56% listen to Internet Radio while shopping

– running an Internet Radio campaign in parallel with a broadcast radio campaign increases response 3.5x

– running an Internet Radio campaign in parallel with an internet banner campaign increases response 2x

The way I see it (confirmed by this research) Internet Radio listeners are the leading edge/cutting edge demographic that try out new things first, recommend them to their friends, and provide the word of mouth mojo marketers are looking for. And they are available to be reached on average a couple hours every day. That's a super demographic to market to.

I'm sitting here writing a blog post and listening to my radio station, fredwilson.fm. And I'm thinking about what the Internet means for radio. The reason is next Tuesday afternoon at 3:40pm I'm going to sit down with my friend David Goodman and Joe Crump from Razorfish and try to answer that very question. We'll be at the Radio Ink Forecast 2011 conference at the Harvard Club. If you work in the streaming media or radio industry, maybe I'll see you there.

David and I were talking the other night about this session and what we should talk about. We agreed that we should throw it open to all the readers of AVC to make sure we are talking about the most important issues. So, if you were coming to see this talk, what do you think we should talk about and what do you think the Internet means for Radio?

Answers in the comments please.