Future Of Online Talk Radio Bright

"An Estimated 89 Million Americans Listened to Online Radio in the Last Month," was discovered by Arbitron and Edison Research in their January 2011 national telephone survey. Arbitron and Edison Research have been releasing studies about Internet radio since 1998. This is their 19th study and is by far the most comprehensive history of listening patterns of Internet radio. Since it began, it has expanded to cover other online media including video, social platforms, smartphones, and more. Their conclusion is "Online Radio is on a roll."

"What's exciting (and concerning) about the Internet over the past ten years is the additive effect it is having upon the American media market, which continues to expand," according to Independent Educational Consultant Lon Woodbury, President of Woodbury Reports.and host of an Internet Talk Radio Show. "This study provides further evidence of internet talk radio's continued expansion and impact on today's society."

The studies' statistics show the bulk of online radio listening today is done on a desktop or laptop computer, but the number of consumers with smartphones capable of online streaming is growing. Internet radio listeners are no longer limited to their computers.

The study also reported that usage of online radio is up significantly, with weekly usage of all forms of online radio having doubled in the last five years; self-reported weekly time spent with online radio by those listening to it is now nearly 10 hours (9 hours 47 minutes), increasing 49% in the last three years. Twenty two percent of the US population age 12 and over reported listening to Online radio in the previous week. That translates to about 57 million Americans. It is almost twice the numbers that were listening five years ago, and that number has doubled twice in ten years.

The study also found the percentage of Americans age 12 and older who have a smartphone has more than doubled in the past year, from 14 percent to 31 percent of the population. More than one-tenth of all cell phone owners have listened to online radio streamed in their cars by connecting their phones to their car stereo system.

Radio is leveraging mobile devices to further expand its reach and opportunities. The explosion of downloadable mobile applications that run on these devices transforms them into portable, miniature radio receivers.

Woodbury said, "I predict those numbers to just keep rising year after year, as we are becoming a very connected society." When Arbitron/Edison Research first measured Facebook usage in 2008 it was only at eight percent and today it has risen to over fifty-one percent. "When you judge the rapid growth in ownership of smartphones and the continued increase in the use of social media, it becomes obvious these platforms are changing our society through consumer expectations and how consumers use media," concluded Woodbury, "And we need to learn how to control this growth so it does the most good and least harm to our children."

Lon Woodbury is an independent educational consultant helping parents trying to help their struggling children, owner of Woodbury Reports which publishes print and online newsletters about schools and programs that serve struggling teens and their families, and is host of an online radio show Parent Choices of Struggling Teens on www.LATalkRadio.com noon PST every Monday, right after Allen Cardoza's Answers 4 the Family.