Harker Research: Online Listening Growth Anemic

Is the future of digital radio not as bright as we've been told? Radio has been repeatedly warned that online streaming is its future while over-the-air will become its past. But Harker Research says that the latest online radio ratings "raise serious questions about the future of digital radio." In a new Radio InSights post, Richard Harker and Glenda Shrader Bos write, "Aside from a couple of exceptions, online listening growth is at best anemic, and in some cases even declining." They add, "Broadcast groups that are betting everything on streaming and an app may be making a very bad bet. In 2010 Radio InSights introduced Hours-Tuned in order to create a metric that would enable the industry to compare broadcast and streaming listening levels. Hours-Tuned tells us how many hours of listening a station attracts." Think of it as a measure of the total 'consumption' of a radio service. Hours-Tuned illustrates the fact that when it comes to online radio, there’s Pandora and then there’s everyone else. Pandora alone makes up 75% of listening reported by Triton Digital. Not only does Pandora dominate Triton ratings, the service’s share is increasing, up from 66% a year ago. But even Pandora’s growth is slowing." Harker Research tells us that "After six months of triple digit growth, Pandora growth has dropped precipitously. It’s still considerably higher than most other services, but well off the pace of earlier this year." The new report goes on to note that the "anemic" online listening extends to others. "Clear Channel is the best performing broadcast group, but it too is showing decelerating growth. It’s growth rate is similar to Pandora’s but with a fraction of its total hours of listening." We're also told that "Even a brand like ESPN isn’t immune from this trend" of year-over-year Hours-Tuned comparisons becoming negative, "with the decline accelerating." Read the full article, complete with charts and graphs, here.