A Story

For the first time in our history, we'll present our RAIN Summit on the European continent with RAIN Summit Europe: October 5th at the very stylish nhow "Berlin" - The Music & Lifestyle Hotel Berlin.

On the Internet, radio has worldwide reach and a truly global platform, and we're very excited to interact and learn from Internet radio leaders in Europe who are shaping the future of the medium. We'll have speakers and panelists from Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, and the United Kingdom -- plus a few making the trip from the U.S. -- who'll share the experiences and realities of webcasting in their home countries with an eye towards a multi-national audience.

When you have a moment, please take a look at impressive (and growing) cast of speakers and panelists for the event. First-and-foremost we're pleased to welcome Spotify European GM and VP of Ad Sales Jonathan Forster as our keynote speaker. We'll also hear from marketing, programming, sales, and technology professionals and executives representing leading firms like Spotify, Adswizz, Last.fm, BMW, Absolute Radio, Radionomy, The Echo Nest, Aupeo, NRJ International, and lots more.

Find all of the most up-to-date information for the October 5th event on the RAIN Summit Europe page, including registration links, the complete list of speakers, and the day's agenda of panels and presentations (and don't forget to take a peek at that hotel!). We're thrilled and humbled that (our attendee feedback tells us) RAIN Summits have become widely considered the go-to events for the Internet radio industry in the U.S., because of the great discussion topics, speakers, and networking opportunities. It's our goal and hope to recreate that with RAIN Summit Europe in October. We really hope you can join us. 

[One last incentive: Though Berlin isn't ground-zero for the annual Oktoberfest celebration (that'd be Munich), the party in Berlin goes through October 14th!]

All the details, including links to register, are on the RAIN Summit Europe page.

Though nearly all news radio stations now offer a website, just over half do not offer streaming audio, fewer than one in four stations have a mobile app and a majority of NDs/GMs don't know if the website is profitable or not. Those are just some of the findings from the Radio Television Digital News Association's 2012 TV and Radio News Staffing and Profitability Survey.

The survey found that overall, more than 96% of news radio stations have a website. About 80% of the websites offer local news, down 3% from last year (and compared to 100% of TV station websites that offer local news). Just under 50% feature streaming audio, 61% audio, 15.3% "live newscasts," 32.1% "recorded newscasts" and 26.7% podcasts (the survey does not go into detail about what the differences are between some of these categories). The most popular website offerings are text (86%) and pictures (64%). Interestingly, 28.2% offer news video.

Stations said that about 25% of their web content is "web-only." 6.5% of content is user-generated.

As for mobile, the fastest-growing segment for Internet radio in general, only 24.1% of stations offer a mobile app. And 10.7% of stations say they offer mobile-releated content on their websites.

RTDNA's survey also found that the average number of radio employees working on the website was 1.8 (that's 0.8 full-time and 1.0 part-time). Both figures are down from last year. But 67.8% of stations said other staffers help out on the website. About one in five news directors said they were in charge overall of the website, 55% said they were in charge of news content only and just under 17% said they had no management role.

About 60% of station GMs/NDs weren't sure if the website was profitable or not. Aproximately 13% said the site was profitable, another 13% said it was breaking even and around 15% said it was operating at a loss. "Radio profitability numbers are all about 3% worse than a year ago," writes the RTDNA.

As for how many people are visiting radio station websites, "radio web traffic numbers are still reported by too few news directors to be viewed as reliable." The RTDNA was able to put together overall radio website traffic figures though: 917,500 pageviews and 151,900 unique visitors over the past 30 days. Page views have doubled, but unique visitors are down 25% from last year.

You can find the RTDNA's results here (PDF). This is the fourth part of the RTDNA's 2012 TV and Radio News Staffing and Profitability Survey and was conducted by Bob Papper.

Investment banking group Coady Diemar Partners released a report today in which they suggest the prohibitive cost of streaming sound recording royalties, coupled with programming that doesn't translate well to the Internet, has led to radio's passive approach to pursuing an online audience.

A quick glance at Triton Webcast Metrics ratings (see a graph here) shows little positive growth for most terrestrial radio's online listening. The Coady Diemar report shows only 8 of 14 terrestrial broadcast companies posting online listening gains from May 2011-May 2012. The investment bankers suggest it's broadcasters' content (simulcasts with "8-12 minutes of commercial time" and lack of customization features) and "lack of scale" (it's not likely for most local radio stations to build Internet-sized audiences) that keep audience growth, and thus profitability, down.

Pandora, however, has used its advantages as a web-only service (customization features and the ability to build a national brand) for "phenomenal growth in reach and time-spent listening... According to Triton Webcast Metrics, Pandora’s listening in June 2012 accounted for approximately 5.98% of all radio listening, up from 3.37% of listening in June 2011... In fact, since September 2010 in any given month Pandora has captured between 78%-95% of the incremental internet listening."

So Pandora's created a huge online audience, but they face the same royalty hurdle as broadcasters. Despite an explosion of usage, Pandora's royalty obligation prevents them from being profitable. "We believe this lack of profitability is a major reason why terrestrial radio operators have not been more aggressive in marketing and promoting their online streams," reads the report.

"Venture capital firms continued to invest in Internet radio or digital music opportunities in the last year," writes Coady Diemar director Chris Ensley, despite a "lack of profitability" for companies like Pandora due in part to high royalty rates. But "most terrestrial radio companies, many of whom have public shareholders, were not in a position to incur" the type of losses associated with getting started in web radio. In Pandora's case, that totalled "$82 million in operating losses over the last six years."

Those who've followed the Internet radio space since its inception will remember the industry's bewilderment at potential royalty bills amounting to many multiples of what any service was making at the time. How could something so one-sided in favor of the recording industry as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act -- which (largely) birthed the obligation for webcasters to pay for sound recording copyrights, at rates determined by the CARP (Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel, now replaced by the CRB) -- have been passed? In 1998 there was no Internet radio industry to speak of to fight it. Had the NAB been "asleep at the wheel?"

The legend grew that broadcasters at the time weren't too worried about high online royalties. They served as a barrier to new media competition. And what did online streaming -- where audiences, and thus ad revenue, were miniscule -- have to do with end-of-the-quarter goals anyway? Radio certainly was in no position to spend $82 million and six years to find out.

As it turned out, of course, high royalties did not prevent the rise of Pandora and Slacker, nor has it prevented terrestrial radio's (still moderate) listening declines. It's also true now that broadcasters like Clear Channel recognize the importance of the Internet and see radio's gradual shift from "local over-the-air" to a market of audio content producers operating on all platforms.

In fact, Clear Channel and its iHeartRadio web and mobile platform are growing well. Ensley credits the company for being "aggressive in promoting iHeartRadio." Clear Channel has also sought clever ways of reducing the costs of streaming, like its new agreement with Big Machine (RAIN coverage here).

"By combining its promotional prowess with a more satisfactory online royalty rate, Clear Channel should be able to reduce operating losses while increasing the speed at which iHeartRadio reaches profitability."

Indeed, Clear Channel and iHeartRadio may then be AM/FM's best hope, Ensley writes, especially when it comes to future car dashboards. "No radio station group on its own is likely to be able to compete with Pandora when it comes to being in dashboard on future car models." But by joining services like iHeartRadio or TuneIn, "radio companies can ensure they have a compelling service to compete with newer in-car/in-dashboard services such as XM Satellite and Pandora."

You can find the report from Coady Diemar Partners here.

As we've seen in years past, Internet radio entered a period of "summer doldrums" in June, according to Triton Digital's new Webcast Metrics. Most webcasters on the Top 20 ranker (Domestic Mon-Sun 6a-12m daypart) were flat or declined month-to-month, including industry leaders Pandora, Clear Channel, Slacker and CBS.

But the Top 20 chart in June also included a new entrant: NPR Member Stations, which came in at #16 with an AAS of 5,605. In March, NPR announced it would make Triton's Webcast Metrics and other services available to member stations (RAIN coverage here).

"Summer doldrums" are a period of flat or declining audience levels traditionally seen during the warm weather months as people vacation and generally spend less time in the office (where a majority of web radio listening takes place). 

Pandora's AAS (Average Active Sessions, essentially equivalent to AQH) declined 2% month-to-month, reaching 1,215,904. That's up 143% year-over-year. Meanwhile, #2-ranked Clear Channel declined 1% month-to-month with an AAS of 181,679 in June. The broadcaster is up 126% year-over-year. 

Ranked at #3, CBS Radio saw a sharper decline: down 8% month-to-month to reach 52,443 (down 44% year-over-year). And #4-slotted Slacker (which includes AOL Radio) dropped 2% month-to-month. The webcaster now stands at 48,502, up 58% year-over-year.

Bucking the trend, AccuRadio saw its AAS increase by 11%.

Radio One / Interactive One saw the largest month-to-month percentage decline with a 17% drop. Most other webcasters in the Top 20 ranker saw month-to-month declines of 0-5%.

(The chart above shows the growth of Pandora, CBS, Clear Channel, the top 5 terrestrial radio groups and Slacker from September 2009 through June 2012. Note that Pandora's AAS numbers from December 2010 through mid-August 2011 were affected by the omission of tracking code in some of its mobile apps. Click to view in full size.)

You can find the Domestic Mon-Sun 6a-12m ranking below. Find out more from Triton Digital’s Webcast Metrics report here (PDF) and find our coverage of May 2012’s ratings here.

Jacobs Media's fourth annual survey of public radio listeners shows "the high-tech revolution continues," with big growth for mobile device ownership, the use of Internet radio, social networks and other digital services.

The fourth Public Radio Techsurvey (PRTS) found that nearly half (46%) of respondents listen to Internet radio weekly or more. That's up 16% from PRTS3, which was released in early 2011 (RAIN coverage here). Moreover, 18% use Pandora weekly or more (up 17% from PRTS3), while 14% use SiriusXM (up 5%). As for AM/FM, 87% say they listen to at least one hour per day. That's down 2% from PRTS3. 

More than half (52%) of public radio listeners said they own a smartphone -- a growth of 50% from PRTS3. Of those folks, more than 90% download apps. A little under a third of respondents (30%) own a tablet (up 407%). Of those who don't, 37% said they are very or somewhat likely to buy one this year.

Around half say they are able to connect a smartphone or mp3 player to their car and nearly 10% own a car with a "digital dashboard" like Ford's SYNC. That's a desirable platform for web radio -- and a dangerous one for AM/FM to lose -- as 41% of respondents say they do the majority of their radio listening in cars.

Jacobs Media's study found "spectacular growth" in Twitter usage, with 18% of respondents using the service. That's up 57% from the previous study. A little over six in ten respondents (63%) have a Facebook profile. All told, 70% of respondents use social media in some way, up from 64% in 2010.

"The data from PRTS4 continues to point to the public radio audience rapidly using new media and gadgets in the pursuit of informing themselves," said Jacobs Media president Fred Jacobs. "Station programmers and managers would do well to better understand the fast rate of adoption, and shape content offerings accordingly."

The fourth-annual PRTS involved 49 public radio stations across the U.S. and more than 30,700 respondents. You can find more information from Jacobs Media here.

NPR announced today its involvement with a new University of New Orleans venture to create a "multimedia newsroom" for in-depth local news for the Crescent City.

NewOrleansReporter.org will be a news website and mobile platform, with a presence on WWNO radio, the public station owned and operated by the university. It will reportedly be run by a staff of 10 to 20 producing news for the web, tablet, smart phone, social media, and radio. The site will also feature and link to other local, national and world news.

NPR, which is consulting WWNO on tech infrastructure and online revenue generation, says it hopes to have the new site live by year's end.

As an "open source," operation, all of NewOrleansReporter's content will be available for free to other local and national news outlets. In fact, the operation's success will be measured in part by how much of its content gets "picked up" elsewhere.

New Orleans, no stranger to hardship, will soon be the largest city in the U.S. without a daily print newspaper. The Times-Picayune announced earlier this year that it will print just three days a week beginning in fall.

"What we are seeing play out in New Orleans, with the Times-Picayune, is a scene we have seen repeated over and over in a lot of communities as newspapers have fallen on hard times," NPR EVP/chief content officer Kinsey Wilson told The Wall Street Journal. "[Newspapers'] weakening and sometimes collapse is leaving communities with a real information deficit. In broad terms, we have seen this as being an opportunity for public radio to be one of the emerging players, as the news business is rebuilt." (RAIN readers may remember Wilson as the keynote speaker at RAIN Summit West in 2010.)

NPR's press release explains, "The objective of the University and its partners is to create a strong, sustainable model for nonprofit, multimedia journalism that will serve the greater New Orleans area as an open source of trustworthy news and information for decades to come."

Read Wall Street Journal coverage here.