Online Listening Is Growing, But Are There Problems Ahead?

Growing

While most radio listening is still done using the over the air signal, there's no doubt online listening is where most of the current growth is happening. "ARBITRON reports that the weekly online radio audience has doubled every five years since 2001, to 57 million in 2011," reports THE NEW YORK POST. "While 81% of listeners still dial into AM/FM radio, 11% now only listen online."

ARBITRON Digital Media specialist PAUL KRASINSKI told THE POST, "The total terrestrial market is $16 billion, and streaming is around $500 million. It is a budding industry starting to grow."

Regarding iHEARTRADIO and terrestrial radio's future in general, CLEAR CHANNEL CEO BOB PITTMAN added, "If you listen on satellite, we're there, or HD, we're there, or online or on mobile. What’s exciting is more people are listening to radio."

SLACKER CEO JIM DALEY noted, "What's happening is, you're seeing a change. Consumers require more control, and the challenge is that traditional radio doesn’t provide it. Look at TV and time-shifting -- all those things are now reinventing radio. You can ask it to play what you want."

While consumers say they love the personalization, THE POST found one music executive who pointed to its downside. "We hate PANDORA," he said. "We prefer SPOTIFY because it is a subscription service."

"One music-label lawyer told THE POST that there are a lot of people close to the legal line with their service."

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