Feature: Radio And The Internet

It would be easy for Radio to be the Cinderella of media. With no pictures, let alone moving ones and no interactivity (unless you count phone-ins), its simplicity and ability to form a backdrop could easily have seen it fade away as the multi-media world advances. Yet this ability could prove the very key to the future for radio, as its hands-free quality is proving very compatible with the New Media, especially now that listening to the radio through the PC is more of an option.

Internet usage across the board may be increasing, and a new brand of “silver surfers” appearing, but the largest age-group for internet usage is the advertiser-friendly 15-24 year old group, of which 51.6% use the internet at least once a week. However, the figures show that usage among the 25-34s and 35-44s is catching up- reaching 48.1% and 46.9% respectively.

Research by RAJAR and IPSOS RSL has found that people are not only using the internet more and more- 13.6% claiming to go online “most days” in December 2001, compared to 9% a year before- but that radio listeners are still more likely than average to be internet users- the figure for usage “most days” among radio listeners rises to 14.4%.

This may be good news for those selling radio advertising to internet companies, but does the link between radio and the internet bring benefits in the opposite direction? Research suggests so, firstly in that the number of people visiting station websites- which can act as effective marketing tools- has risen, from 8.3% of adults surveyed ever having visited one in December 2000 to 16.6% in December 2001.

In addition, the internet is providing a new platform for radio listening, with 9.3% of respondents having listened to the radio online by December 2001, compared to 3.3% a year before. The most popular type of station to listen to in this way is UK national stations, listened to by 4.6% of respondents.