Online Radio Ratings?

Arbitron Inc. and comScore Media Metrix, a division of comScore Networks, Inc., announced the debut of a new service designed to provide traditional broadcast ratings for the online radio industry.

America Online’s AOL Radio Network; Yahoo!’s LAUNCHcast; and Microsoft’s MSN Radio and Windowsmedia.com have signed on as charter subscribers for the new service.

The new measurement service, which is named comScore Arbitron Online Radio Ratings, is the result of collaboration between Arbitron and comScore Media Metrix, the respective leaders in radio and online audience measurement. The data will be released monthly and the first estimates from the service will be released next week.

The comScore Arbitron Online Radio Ratings service is based on a subset of approximately 200,000 U.S. participants within the comScore global consumer panel. Using proprietary and patent-pending technology, comScore passively and continuously captures the online behavior of these panelists, including online radio listening behavior. The service will provide customers with Average Quarter Hour and Cume audience estimates for traditional broadcast dayparts and demographics. This allows online radio to be planned and bought using the same metrics as those used by traditional radio.

“Consumers are increasingly tuning to online radio and advertisers need credible audience measurement to justify their increasing investment in this medium,” said Bill Rose, vice president, Arbitron New Ventures. “We are combining Arbitron’s expertise in radio ratings with comScore’s online measurement capabilities to provide the numbers that agencies need to evaluate online radio in the same terms as traditional broadcast media.”

“By leveraging comScore’s large and representative sample of online listeners, we are not only able to provide reliable representation of listening at home, but also at work and universities, where broadband connections are common and listening to online radio is at its peak,” said Lynn Bolger, executive vice president, agency development, comScore Media Metrix. “We consider this ratings service to be a critical step in the continued commercialization of this quickly growing medium.”

“These ratings will help agencies make online radio a key part of the media mix because they provide the accountability needed to justify their advertising investments,” added David Goldberg, vice president and general manager, music, Yahoo!.

“Entertainment programming is more important than ever to online consumers and online radio, in particular, has become an integral part of their daily routines,” stated Bill Wilson, senior vice president and general manager of AOL Entertainment. “Providing a credible and familiar resource, like comScore Arbitron Ratings, will help agencies and advertisers better evaluate the great opportunity to add online radio advertising to their mix of media.”

“Arbitron and comScore Media Metrix are well respected by agencies and advertisers and they provide the credibility needed for online radio measurement,” said Chris Korol, product manager of MSN Entertainment.

The comScore Arbitron Online Radio Ratings service will provide customers with Average Quarter Hour and Cume audience estimates for 38 demographics and 15 standard broadcast dayparts. Each month Arbitron will publish the average weekly audience for persons 12+, Monday through Sunday, 6AM-Midnight on its Web site ( www.arbitron.com ).