Webcast Audience Exceeds Fifty Percent Of Internet Users.

The percentage of Internet users who have ever tried streaming media has crossed the 50 percent threshold according to a new Internet Study by Arbitron Inc. and Edison Media Research.

The “Internet VII: The Internet & Streaming: What Consumers Want Next” study finds that, as of July 2001, the number of “Streamies” – those who have watched or listened to streaming media online – has risen to 52 percent of online Americans. More than a third (34 percent) of all Americans aged 12 and older are classified as Streamies which is approximately 78 million people.

“It is very encouraging to see that consumers are tuning to webcasts in record numbers,” said Bill Rose, vice president and general manager, Arbitron Webcast Services. “The continued audience growth should provide confidence in webcasting’s great potential despite the inevitable bumps in the road experienced by all new media.”

The study also reveals that the amount of time consumers spend listening to sources of audio that are available only on the Internet, now equals the amount of time consumers listen to radio station webcasts each month.

Listening to Internet-only audio has tripled since July 1999, with one-sixth (15 percent) of all Americans having ever tuned into an Internet-only channel. In addition, 12 percent of Internet users say they have listened to Internet-only audio channels and radio station webcasts on a monthly basis.

“Radio stations that stopped streaming may have spurred the growth of Internet-only channels by driving their audience to alternative sources of online audio,” said Larry Rosin, president, Edison Media Research. “More than half (55 percent) of the listeners who tuned online to a radio station that later stopped its webcast say they have found other sources of Internet audio to take its place.”

Other issues addressed by this study are:

* when Streamies first began tuning to online audio and video;

* consumer interest in streaming media subscription models; and

* how the Internet has changed consumer media habits.

The findings reported here are based on a July 2001 survey. The study, by Edison Media Research, consists of 2,507 telephone interviews of Arbitron’s Spring 2001 radio diary keepers. The diary-based sample was drawn as a national random sample of persons 12 and over.

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