Weekly Online Radio Audience Reaches an Estimated 86 Million Nationally Says New Arbitron/Edison Research Study

COLUMBIA, Md., April 2, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- One in three Americans aged 12 and older now listen to all forms of online radio¹ on a weekly basis according to the new national survey from Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB) and Edison Research, The Infinite Dial 2013: Navigating Digital Platforms.

The study, released today, is the 21^st in a series of studies dating back to 1998.  Among the many other findings:

• Fifty-three percent of all Americans aged 12 and over (an estimated 139 million people) own a smartphone; three-quarters of those aged 18-to-34 own these devices
• Weekly online radio listeners report listening for an average of 11 hours 56 minutes per week, up by more than two hours over last year's listening levels (9 hours 46 minutes in 2012), and nearly double that reported in 2008 (6 hours 13 minutes). During the same span of time, Arbitron's RADAR service indicates that AM/FM Radio has grown to 243 million weekly listeners and time spent listening has remained approximately two hours a day
• More than one in four Americans (27 percent) check their social network several times per day, estimated at 71 million people
• AM/FM radio is an "almost all of the times" or "most of the times" in-car choice for nearly six in ten adults aged 18 and over; dashboard AM/FM radio (58 percent) far outpaces frequent in-car use of CD players (15 percent), portable digital audio/MP3 players (11 percent) and satellite radio (10 percent)
• AM/FM Radio delivers far more consumers (49 percent) than other media during the half hour before they arrive to shop, more than twice the number reached by the next closest medium (advertising on Billboards at 21 percent)
• Twenty-nine percent own a tablet; this is up more than 70 percent in the last year, compared to 17 percent ownership in 2012
• Among the nearly half of Americans (45 percent) who say it is important to learn about and keep up-to-date with new music, AM/FM Radio is the top source for new music discovery at 78 percent

"We are now seeing the highest levels of weekly online radio listening with the increasing strength of AM/FM streams and other online radio brands and the near ubiquity of devices in which consumers can listen," said Bill Rose, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Arbitron. 

"In the smartphone, the majority of Americans now have powerful computers in their pockets, which has irrevocably altered not only out-of-home listening behavior, but out-of-home purchase behavior as well," added Tom Webster, Vice President of Strategy and Marketing, Edison Research. 

This study, as well as previous studies, may be downloaded free of charge via the Arbitron and Edison Research websites at www.arbitron.com and www.edisonresearch.com.

How the study was conducted

A total of 2,021 persons were interviewed to investigate Americans' use of digital platforms and new media.  From January 15 to February 10, 2013, telephone interviews were conducted with respondents age 12 and older chosen at random from a national sample of Arbitron's Fall 2012 survey diarykeepers and through random digit dialing (RDD) sampling in geographic areas where Arbitron diarykeepers were not available for the survey.  Diarykeepers represent 45% of the completed interviews and RDD sampled respondents represent 55% of the completed interviews.  The study includes a total of 711 cell phone interviews.

About Arbitron

Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB) is an international media and marketing research firm serving the media—radio, television, cable, and out-of-home—the mobile industry, as well as advertising agencies and advertisers around the world. Arbitron's businesses include: measuring network and local market radio audiences across the United States; surveying the retail, media, and product patterns of U.S. consumers; providing mobile audience measurement and analytics in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia; and developing application software used for analyzing media audience and marketing information data.

The Company has developed the Portable People Meter™ (PPM®) and the PPM 360™, new technologies for media and marketing research.

About Edison Research

Edison Research conducts survey research and provides strategic information to a broad array of clients, including Activision, AMC Theatres, Disney, Dolby, Google, MTV, Samsung, Siemens, Time Warner, Yahoo!, The Voice of America and Zenithmedia. Edison Research works with many of the largest American radio ownership groups, including Entercom, Clear Channel, CBS Radio and Radio One. Another specialty for Edison is its work for media companies throughout the world, conducting research in North America, South America, Africa, Asia, and Europe. Edison Research is the sole provider of election exit poll data for the six major news organizations: ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox, NBC and the Associated Press. Edison is also the leading provider of consumer exit polling and has conducted face-to-face research in almost every imaginable venue.

Portable People Meter™, PPM®, and PPM 360® are marks of Arbitron Inc.

¹Online Radio = Listening to AM/FM radio stations online and/or listening to audio content available only on the Internet.

SOURCE Arbitron Inc.