Internet radio is one of the few radio formats that currently is climbing while traditional radio is slumping especially in advertising dollars and where satellite radio growth has slowed. What traditional radio doesn’t understand is that as listeners we want to be able to take them with us everywhere, even if we aren’t in the car. The days of carrying our boom boxes on our shoulders and hauling those huge things with us everywhere are gone.
The message coming from the radio industry is clear: Terrestrial radio is in trouble financially and things will get worse before they get any better. Many of the country’s largest national broadcasters are on the verge of bankruptcy, and the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) announced that Q1 2009 was the industry’s worst quarter ever in terms of ad spending. eMarketer, Radio Revs Up
Here is where radio is smart:
Internet radio stations, on the other hand, are positioning themselves to take advantage of the shift in dollars. Even in this tough economy, Internet radio is growing ad revenues year over year and is one of the fastest-growing online media categories. eMarketer, Radio Revs Up
Its all really simple, we want our radio digital. Those radio stations that have live streaming online will be the ones to survive as long as they are smart.
Podcasting is another form of digital audio and one that many of us take advantage of on a regular basis, whether we are hosts or listeners. Many of the top podcasting services are creating better directories of their podcasts, and are now making it possible to have these podcasts delivered to our mobile devices. New mobile-friendly interfaces are the way these podcasts will be available on web-enabled mobile devices, they allow users to search, collect and access their favorite podcasts anywhere, anytime, even when they are on the go. There is no software installation needed (for many of these services)- if you can browse the web on your mobile device.
