mobile

In the effort to adopt "responsive design" for its digital platforms, NPR is taking a "mobile first" approach, reports NetNewsCheck.

("Responsive design" aims to optimize content viewing and navigation while minimizing the resizing, panning, and scrolling of pages for a wide range of devices like desktop computers and mobile phones.)

NPR recently unveiled its new mobile website interface for IOS and Android devices. The redesign now offers full versions of each story (instead of abridged content) along with easier links to audio, photos and video.

"It’s easier for us to build a coherent, full experience at the small screen level and let it grow up to the big screen rather than try to create something on a big screen and then figure out what things to take away to make it work on a small screen," said Mark Stencel, NPR digital news editor.

Read more in NetNewsCheck here.

Those who follow Internet radio -- like RAIN readers -- are likely familiar with Media UK managing director James Cridland. The self-described "radio futurologist" will give the featured presentation at RAIN Summit Europe (now less than two weeks away).

He was digital media director of Virgin Radio in London, and joined the BBC in 2007 to work on the BBC iPlayer for radio. Since then he's worked with various audio and new media companies (including receiver manufacturer Pure and stream aggregator UK Radioplayer) He organizes the nextrad.io radio conference, and is a founder of hybrid radio tech association RadioDNS.

Cridland's "The Future of Radio: Mobile and Personalised" will examine the medium's future on portable devices, in the context of case studies of broadcasters from all over the world.

Later in the afternoon Cridland (right) will return to moderate a panel discussion on a very similar topic. "Mainstream Mobile" participants will share their views on "best practices" for building listenership on mobile devices and monetizing it.

Two CEOs, both from Germany, join this panel. Based in Hamburg, Christian Richter leads Spoiled Milk, an international digital agency and consultancy on brand management and user experience. Richter (left) is a serial-entrepreneur: he's co-founder of Net radio tuning guide radio.de, and also founder of digital and marketing solutions wathory.com.

Holger Weiss is Berlin-based AUPEO! CEO. AUPEO! is personalized Internet radio with over 120 channels, available in over 40 countries. Weiss (right) joined AUPEO! in 2010 after working for Nokia. He's a specialist in business development, contract negotiations, strategic alliances, leadership, and sales. He spoke at RAIN Summit West.

Interestingly, just after RAIN Summit West, came news that AUPEO! had been acquired by Panasonic Automotive Systems Company of America (a division of Panasonic Corporation of North America and an integrated supplier to the automotive industry in North America) (see RAIN here). Hakan Kostepen (left, who also spoke at RAIN Summit West) is that company's executive director of product, planning & innovation. He's part of the leadership behind the company's in-car integration and development of all Panasonic Company technologies and products to optimize the "in-car user experience." Kostepen was responsible for "industry first" Jaguar S-Type Voice Recognition Infotainment System. He's based in the U.S.

Also an engineer by training, Ulrich Köring (right) is head of new media for Austrian hit music broadcaster Kronehit. There he handles all digital products, including the website, side-channels, podcasts, and social networks. His experience also includes work at Radioszene industry trade magazine.

"Mainstream Mobile's" final panelist is online audio distribution platform Soundcloud VP/business development Dave Haynes (left), from the UK. Soundcloud, originally started in Stockholm, but established in Berlin, launched in 2008 and now boasts over 10 million registered users. Hayes himself is a former DJ who has run a record label, a record store, and worked in digital music distribution. He writes a blog and hosts the OpenMusicMedia meetups in London, and organizes Music Hack Day events.

Limited space is still available for RAIN Summit Europe, May 23 at Brussels' Hotel Bloom. All the details, including registration links, are on the RAIN Summit Europe page here.

With its March Webcast Metrics online radio listening ranking, Triton Digital included the news that mobile listening to its panel stations now accounts for 56% of all its measured listening (M-Su 6a-12M, U.S.-only), crossing the 50% threshold for the first time.

Pandora, which accounts for a monster share of Webcast Metrics "domestic" listening, says mobile accounts for somewhere near 75% of its listening. In March, as a way to control royalty costs, the webcaster imposed a 40 hour/month limit on listening to free streams via mobile devices. As a result, Triton says, Pandora's mobile listening dropped 3% in March.

"At first glance, 3% may not seem overly concerning, but we have to take into account the scale of Pandora’s audience," the news release reads. "Did capping Pandora drive a portion of their mobile listeners to other Pureplays, such as Slacker, who saw an 18% gain during the same period? It's possible. Or, perhaps this growth is attributed to the fact that mobile audio consumption was our fastest growing segment in March 2013."

Mobile listening to other pureplay webcasters went up 23% during the month (mobile listening to terrestrial streams grew 5%).

Slacker's 18% gain in mobile listening was part of a great month for the second-largest pureplay webcaster. Its combined M-Su 6a-12M domestic Average Active Sessions (AAS) was up 23% over last month. Slacker AAS is up 49% from March 2012.

While Pandora did slip 4% overall from February, its AAS is still 39% more than 12 months ago.

Among broadcast streamers, Univision had a strong March (up 22%), as did the NPR Member Stations group (up 16%).

Triton Digital's March Domestic Ranker (M-Su 6a-12M) is below. You can find the full March 2013 report here. Our coverage of the February 2013 rankings is here.

Triton Digital is a sponsor of our upcoming RAIN Summit Europe event, May 23 at Hotel Bloom in Brussels. CCO and general manager of data and measurement Rob Favre and SVP and general manager of international markets Jay Supovitz will participate in panel discussions. Info and registration links are on the RAIN Summit Europe page.

Pandora says its just-revealed audience decline is "in-line with company expectations" following a March move to restrict mobile listeners on free, ad-supported streams to 40 hours a month. Pandora made the move to reduce royalty costs (ads on mobile streams don't pay as well as those to desktop listeners, and so it's harder to recoup the cost of performing music on phones and tablets).

Today Pandora released its April 2013 audience numbers, showing total listener hours (TLH) were 1.31 billion last month. While that's up 24% from April 2012 (1.06 billion), it's a significant reduction from March (nearly 1.5 billion hours, a 12% slide) and February (just under 1.4 billion) of this year. The company says its share of "total U.S. radio listening" in April was 7.33% -- again, an increase from the same time last year (5.95%), but down from March's 8.05%.

CFO Michael Herring, during a webcast of a Morgan Stanley "Internet Bus Trip" covered in Billboard, said the cap on mobile listening had "almost the same impact" as a similar restriction put on web listening in 2009.

Pandora's total number of unique "active listeners" -- a number one wouldn't expect to be affected by a 40-hour cap on mobile listening, was indeed up. Pandora reported 70.1 million active users by April's end, which is up both over March (69.5 million) and April of 2012 (51.9 million, a 35% increase).

See our coverage of Pandora's March 2013 numbers here. Pandora's press release with its April 2013 numbers is here, and the Billboard coverage is here.

Earbits has come out with a new Android mobile app that combines your music collection with music from independent artists (which Earbits gets royalty-free) it thinks you'll like.

The company explains that the new app "intelligently blends users’ songs into its 350 channels of commercial-free music... Consumers can play Earbits curated channels or songs on their mobile devices, switching seamlessly between their music and Earbits' catalog."

Hypebot reports that in exchange for the free use of artists' music, "Earbits supports artists' promotional efforts by gathering emails, rewarding listeners [with what they call "Groovies"] for social engagement such as Facebook shares and providing artists with as much data as possible." Earbits allows artists to pay in exchange for further promotional emphasis.

Read more in Hypebot here.

Clear Channel's iHeartRadio reached 29 million registered users in the first quarter, more than half of whom were on mobile devices like smartphones or tablets.

Mobile listening accounted for 55% of the service's total listening hours during the first quarter, which were up 31% year-over-year, the company revealed in yesterday's 2013Q1 earnings report.

Competitor Pandora says more than 75% of its listening is now on mobile devices (see The New York Times here). And though Pandora says its mobile revenue is now growing faster than its mobile audience (see RAIN here), the webcaster recently capped mobile listening at 40 hours a month for users of the free, ad-supported streaming (more here).

There's more on Clear Channel's Q1 earnings here.