Legal Arguments Won’t Stop Growth Of Internet Radio
A new report from eMarketer says that legal squabbles over internet radio will not stop the growth of the medium.
Another estimate, by analyst John Blackledge of JP Morgan, projected $500 million in internet radio advertising for 2007.
eMarketer says that these aggressive forecasts for internet radio could be threatened by the ongoing dispute between record companies and internet broadcasters over performance royalties to labels and artists for music streamed online.
Paul Verna, senior analyst at eMarketer, said: “Content owners are squeezed for revenue, and will fight anything that chips away at that revenue. At the same time, if there are no webcasters, there’s no revenue for anyone. Getting the issues resolved could involve ongoing legal battles.”
Bridge Ratings says that by 2020 internet radio will have 180 million listeners, whilst terrestrial radio will have 250 million listeners. However, it estimates that HD radio will have less than 10 million.
Verna added: “The value proposition for HD radio is less clear than with internet radio, which gave people something they didn’t have before – a larger range of music types and a greater quality of music overall.
“People are not clamouring for better quality radio, just as they weren’t clamouring for better sounding CDs. As a result, HD is growing more slowly than internet radio.”
eMarketer estimates that total music industry revenues from consumers, broadcasters, advertisers, video game publishers, film studios and other “outside” sources will reach $26.5 billion in 2011.
A recent report from In-Stat forecast that the global market for digital radio receivers will grow from 5 million units in 2005, to almost 25 million unit shipments in 2010 (see Market For Digital Radio Receivers To Grow).