Arbitron Launches New Webcast Audience Profile Service.

Following a successful pilot test by NetRadio, Arbitron Inc. has launched a new webcast audience measurement service which gathers audience demographics of individual streaming media channels.

Called Webcast Audience Profile, the new Arbitron measurement service uses a pop-up survey on webcasters’ sites to gather demographic, socio-economic and Internet usage information. The pop-up technology is unique because the survey does not interrupt the webcast programming or content.

The initial Arbitron Webcast Audience Profile revealed that listeners of NetRadio channels are well-educated, upscale and Internet-savvy. Nearly three quarters (73 percent) of NetRadio’s audience graduated college or have post-graduate degrees and one in five (19 percent) live in homes with more than $100,000 annual income. Nearly one-third (32 percent) of NetRadio’s listeners made 10 or more online purchases in the past year, with the majority (72 percent) spending $100 or more online in the past 12 months. NetRadio’s audience uses the Internet for an average of three hours per day and more than half (55 percent) tune in while at work.

“Being able to offer advertisers our audience profile from an objective, third-party source is vital for both us and the streaming media industry in general,” said Stephen F. Holderman, executive vice president, NetRadio. “Our audience has a high level of disposable income and spends a significant amount of time online. They are less likely to be exposed to print or television advertising during the workday since most tuning occurs in the work place. Arbitron’s Webcast Audience Profile provides powerful and credible evidence that NetRadio reaches a highly desirable consumer target for advertisers.”

Two-thirds of NetRadio’s audience is male and nearly three quarters (73 percent) are between the ages of 25 and 54. More than half (52 percent) have more than two people in the household and nearly one-third (29 percent) have a child under 12 living in the home. Nearly three quarters (74 percent) live in the United States with most of the online tuning coming from the New York designated market area. In addition, approximately one in four (26 percent) live outside the United States, with Canada representing 6 percent of NetRadio’s listening audience.

“Sellers, planners and buyers have told us that Webcasting’s ability to deliver a targeted message to an upscale, Internet savvy audience is the medium’s most compelling benefit for advertisers today,” said Bill Rose, general manager and vice president, Arbitron Webcast Services, Arbitron Inc. “Therefore, it is crucial for webcasters to have demographic, socio-economic and Internet usage profiles of their streaming media audience. Arbitron plans to help webcasters, advertisers and agencies understand the value of the webcast audience by providing credible and independent measurement of the qualitative characteristics of online tuning in addition to quantitative measurement.”

The Arbitron Webcast Audience Profile for NetRadio was conducted in March and April of 2001 through randomly selected listeners of NetRadio’s online audio channels. Each selected participant received a survey on his or her computer with several quick and easy questions. Nearly 4,000 NetRadio listeners participated in this survey.

For more information at http://www.arbitron.com