The pace of Internet music radio growth has been steady since 2002 when the market retreated in the face of uncertainty over royalty rights payments, the ad recession, the general market recession and lack of venture or speculative capital.
Tuning hours for the top ten sites are forecast to reach 360 million hours in 2006, and there are currently over 700,000 average quarterly hour listeners to online stations, combining Arbitron and Webcast Metrics user data.
In addition, there were about 2.3 - 2.4 million subscribers to Internet music radio services at the beginning of 2006, which include those offered by Real Networks, AOL, Yahoo, MSN, Radioio, Live365.com and Virgin Radio.
Top line report findings and analysis:
- In 2002, with the exception of Clear Channel Worldwide, and several of the major sports leagues and a scattering of major media brands such as ABC and ESPN, most of the hours of usage were associated with Internet-only brands at the time such as Spinner.com, Radio@AOL.com, Live365, WarpRadio, Radio Free Virgin and the very popular Shoutcast platform which hosted sites like Wolf FM
- In 2005, again with the exception of a few over-the-air broadcast groups (i.e. Clear Channel and Susquehanna Broadcasting), Internet radio was once again dominated by brands that are native to the medium, including AOL, AOLs Shoutcast property, Real Networks’ Rhapsody streaming and download service, Live365.com, Chaincast Networks, Yahoo, Radioio, AccuRadio, and others
- Aggregate tuning hours (ATH) for the top ten sites and networks rose by 43.8% in 2005 per month, to 257.3 million hours
- ATH per month grew by 53.2% in 2003 compared to 2002, a year which saw significant contraction in the market due to the advertising slowdown and regulatory uncertainly with regard to copyright fees for re-broadcasting content
- Streaming media (subscription) music revenue rose from $49 million in 2003 to $237 million in 2005 and projected to surpass $340 million in 2006
- Growth rates for revenue were 163% in 2004, 84% in 2005 and an estimated 45% in 2006
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