Feature: Will Internet Save The Radio Star?

Over in the States where unmetered internet access has been around for a while now, listenership to web-delivered radio stations is growing fast. According to a recent study from Arbitron/Edison Media Research, the number of Americans who have listened to the online broadcast of a station has more than tripled in under two years, up from 6% in 1998 to 20% in July this year. Add audiences for internet-only broadcasters and the figure creeps up to 25%, or some 57 million people.

Could that trend wing its way over the pond in the next few years as more people in the UK become regular internet users and faster technology delivers better quality? A few months ago Continental Research warned that broadcasters risked being left behind if they do not embrace new media and deliver what their listeners want from it. Radio groups would do well to pay attention to their needs and devise marketing strategies as they do with their stations, the research recommended.

Chrysalis Radio was the first of the major UK radio operators to develop a sophisticated web presence, taking its Galaxy and Heart networks online. Chrysalis’ webcasts incorporate an ecommerce facility that allows users to purchase the records played on the station directly from the site. Capital Radio is already broadcasting its London stations nationally on the internet and via Sky Digital. Meanwhile TalkSport is enticing listeners to its online broadcast with an internet-only £1 million fantasy football game.

Despite this activity though, listening to radio via the internet is still fairly uncommon in the UK. According to Continental Research only about 8% of people are very interested in, or have used, internet radio; the figure rises to 16% for expected usage habits in six months’ time. About 30%, or 14 million people, access the Net at least once a month in the UK.

RAJAR is monitoring radio listening habits on the internet and believes that Net listening is still experimental, rather than a regular replacement for other radio listening. It is hampered by telephone costs, slow access speeds and poor quality. However, as internet access becomes faster and audio quality improves, the possibilities for radio listening may extend beyond stations broadcast to the UK. If internet calls become unmetered users will be able to browse a global selection of stations at their leisure. In the US webcasting is already rapidly approaching critical mass, according to Arbitron.