Those of you who've been following our Streaming Media
101 series have likely got your creative juices flowing. You know
what streaming media is, and you know how your advertising message
could fit in. But, still, something's missing. Yes, it's the target
audience. Who are all those people on the other ends of the streams,
and why would an advertiser want to reach them?
Arbitron, the audience measurement firm that's
most well known for its work in radio, is making a big push in
the streaming arena, having coined the word "streamies" to describe
the people who listen or view streaming content.
According to a January 2001 survey by the company, one in four
Americans (27 percent) are streamies -- people who have, at any
time, watched or listened to streaming content. Of people who
are online, one in five has used streaming media in the last month.
Audio -- likely because of the lower bandwidth needed to get a
quality signal -- is more popular, with 36 percent of online Americans
surveyed listening to audio online, and 20 percent watching video.
Who's Listening? Not Necessarily Who You Think
MeasureCast, Arbitron's competitor in the space,
takes a weekly look at streaming activity, and says the largest
age group listening to Internet radio last week (July 23 to 29,
2001) was 25- to 34-year-olds. Fifty-five percent of listeners
were under 35; Twenty-six percent were younger than 25, and 6.5
percent were older than 55. The company also found that 70 percent
of listeners were men, and 30 percent were women.
"In the beginning when we looked at this it was very skewed to
male and young. That's changed somewhat," said Bill Rose, general
manager and vice president, Arbitron Webcast Services. "It leans
male, but it's not skewed so heavily."
Part of the reason for this skewing is the fact that streamies
are more often early adopters of technology and the Internet --
which also happen to be male. Arbitron also found that streamies
are far more active Internet users, more likely to buy online,
and bringing in a higher household income than Internet users
who have not listened to or viewed Webcasts.
Well-Off and Spending Online
Eighteen percent of streamies had household incomes of $100,000
or more, as compared to 12 percent of Internet users who haven't
used streaming. Sixty-three percent have made purchases over the
Internet, while only 32 percent of non-streamies have done this.
What are they buying? The most popular items were books, with
35 percent of streamies saying they'd bought books online. Next
came music CDs or tapes, with 31 percent reporting purchases of
these items. Software, airline or travel reservations, and clothes
were next in line, with more than 25 percent saying they'd bought
these online.
What's perhaps most interesting to advertisers, though, is when
streamies are listening -- during the hours when they're at work.
MeasureCast says that last week, 80 percent of
all listening occurred between 5 a.m. and 5 p.m. Pacific, with
the top hour for listening coming at noon Pacific. That's a time
period in which a great number of people were once unreachable
by advertisers, because radio reception is notoriously difficult
in office buildings.
"Now you've got these people coming into the office, turning
on their favorite radio program, and working," said Bill
Pionka, vice president of marketing at MeasureCast.
It's Becoming a Habit
And people seem to be listening for longer periods of time. MeasureCast
says the total time spent listening (TTSL) to Internet radio stations
it measures has almost doubled since the company began tracking
online listening in January.
"The growing popularity of online radio listening during the
past seven months proves that Internet radio is here to stay,
and that there is enormous potential for ad revenue," said MeasureCast
chief executive officer Ed Hardy.
So far, though, streamed content is remarkably ad-free.
"We asked people who are listening online, what percentage of
them had ever heard an ad, and I think the answer was that 34
percent had ever heard an ad," said Rose, adding that only 25
percent of those watching video online had ever seen an ad. "It
is really an infant medium, because the consumers really haven't
seen the ads yet. If I'm an agency or advertiser it's a good opportunity,
because it will stand out more."
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