A study released last week (38-page PDF alert) indicates that Americans’ use on “on-demand media devices” (such as TiVos and iPods) is on the rise, with services like Internet radio, video-on-demand, mobile e-mail and Internet video growing in popularity.
The old-media takeaway, as reflected in a radio trade pub, is that people are choosing these new services over old media: the study says users of on-demand audio listen to traditional radio for 15 minutes less per day than non-users. But the more likely explanation is that on-demand users simply consume more media overall: the study says the average consumer listens to traditional radio for an average of 2 hours 48 minutes per day, compared to 2 hours 33 minutes per day for the on-demand user.
Internet radio listeners cite the usual reasons for their interest: to listen to music they can’t hear elsewhere, they can exercise greater control over what’s played and there are less commercials and DJ chatter. Unsurprisingly, that sounds like the antithesis of modern-day commercial radio.
Users also have an interest in storing their digital content for later use, be it on MP3 players or DVRs. So control and storage are key — and the mobile handset is a platform that can offer both, as well as a high-speed network connection. Already we’re seeing services like Sony StreamMan and Visual Radio that offer either a customized listening experience or add some interactivity to traditional radio, and 3G operators are offering full-track downloads to handsets.
Look at projections for mobile Internet and Internet radio use through 2010. Is there any reason all those Net radio listeners can’t be turned into users of mobile streaming and download services?
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