AccuStream Research: Online and Mobile Music Radio Spins Forecast at 8.3 Bil. Track Play Hours in '10; Media Spend at $135 Mil.

SEASIDE, Calif., June 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Online and mobile music listening (including individual track plays) are forecast to rise 15% in 2010 to 8.3 billion hours, a year after the radio webcasting business underwent a significant round of consolidation.

Despite brand contraction, time spent listening spun out a 9% increase in 2009. Total listening hours are forecast to expand 22% in 2011 building on a more sound economic foundation in 2010, according to a report by AccuStream Research.

The report, Online and Mobile Music Spins and Media Spend: 2010 – 2012 provides comprehensive music listening and media spend analyses by avail type (audio, video, rich media, sponsorships and text) and platform (PC and mobile). Extensive Q & A's are included.

An evaluation of advertising supported listening (excluding Shoutcast and paid subscriptions) reveals a 5% drop in monetizable inventory in 2009 as large, pure-play services Yahoo Radio and AOL Radio were folded into CBS Radio, while independent operators grappled with royalty rate structures assessed against audience size.

Ad supported listening hours are forecast to improve 20% in 2010, however, as inventory sellout rates continue to rise, royalty rates slightly more favorable to smaller operators are reset and mobile platforms achieve greater scale.

Audio and video ad sales made up approximately 50% of total media spend made against Internet radio, generating market value of $168 - $190 million in '09 including all paid placement, from banners to rich media executions.

Sellout is forecast to reach 55% and generate $135 million in 2010 (audio and video media buys alone), a 41.6% growth spike; the market grew by 13.9% in 2009.

The current year's estimates acknowledge much greater emphasis being made by terrestrial broadcasters with online extensions to implement a highly localized sales strategy.

In addition, more sophisticated geo-targeting solutions, better national sales execution and bundled solutions provided by third party representation firms like TargetSpot and Triton Media -- -plus the emerging mobile platform -- point toward a solid growth year. Mobile music media spend is forecast at $6.7 million in 2010.  

AccuStream Research (http://www.accustreamresearch.com) is a video, Internet and mobile music radio, entertainment media download, subscription, CDN telecom, video ad platform, video advertising network and broadband advertising research firm.

SOURCE AccuStream Research