Internet Radio is Here!

Behold the future of Internet Radio Listening.

Contour Internet-connected digital radio from Pure

The new Contour Internet-connected digital radio that Pure previewed at the Consumer Electronics Show.

This player comes with Pure’s Clearsound technology which, the company said, ensures clear dynamic audio, higher volume levels and, what everyone is waiting for…low power consumption. The Contour also features the company’s Flow technology, “using Wi-Fi to connect to the Internet wirelessly and access thousands of Internet radio stations, podcasts, a library of unique Pure Sounds as well as stream music stored on a home computer or network storage device.”

Producers of Internet audio content can pin their ears back and go for it because companies like Pure have created the much needed distribution beyond PC devices. Once the prices for these devices come down to earth,  listenership to the wide and creative variety of Internet programming should explode.

Next issue for programmers is separating from the very crowded Internet space and grabbing a loyal audience.

Stay tuned…this is a very exciting time to be a leader in Media and Communications!

Mike

Why broadcasters need to jump onto the Internet Radio tsunami now!

A new national survey of consumers shows 34% would listen to Internet Radio in the Car!

The survey was conducted by Mark Ramsey Media and VIP Research.  As reported by Media Daily News:

“MRM and VIP found that 34% of those surveyed said they would listen less to traditional local broadcast radio stations — long the dominant drive-time medium for advertisers — if they had access to Internet radio in their car.

Given a choice between having Internet radio in their dashboard or a broadcast radio in their iPod, 58% of all respondents opted for Internet radio in the dash.

This isn’t the only data suggesting Internet radio could pose a threat to traditional radio in drive-time listening. A survey by J.D. Powers released earlier this month found that car-buyers’ favorite audio system feature was the ability to play music file formats of their own choosing, such as MP3 files or iTunes.

Separately, in January, Internet audio service Pandora struck a deal with electronics manufacturer Pioneer Corp. that will allow consumers to bring Pandora’s personalized audio content to their automobiles. Pioneer is manufacturing a multipurpose navigation and media device, priced at $1,200, that will allow iPhones customers to stream the online music service to their car stereos — after they download a new app that allows the devices to link up.”

Read the entire article at Media Daily News

Green Rain Marketing is riding the wave of this huge change in consumer listening habits with www.moneytalknetwork.com, a site providing the best personal finance and consumer advice audio programming and featuring some of America’s best broadcast professionals and some you have not heard of…but will soon!

Reach “Unreachable” Consumers through PodCasts

Edison Research and The Association For Downloadable Media (ADM) have released a study looking at consumers’ latest attitudes on podcasting, and their openness to advertising within podcasts.

Respondents to the online study indicated that although they are increasingly turning away from some mass media platforms and advertising approaches, they are receptive to advertising and sponsorship messages in downloadable media.

Respondents showed a significant tendency to consume podcasts on their mobile phones, highlighting the importance of the channel as a truly portable medium.

Edison Research VP Tom Webster commented, “A podcast advertising buy is not a redundant media buy for advertisers and marketers. These are attractive, affluent consumers that mass media is losing.”

Other important findings:

-Ninety percent of respondents indicated that they had taken some kind of action as a result of podcast advertising or sponsorship, and over 40 percent reported purchasing behaviors indicating responsiveness to the right messages.

-Podcasts and downloadable media provide valuable and effective options to reaching the otherwise unreachable.

-An online or offline audio or video buy that does not include a podcasting component will miss a very attractive advertising target.

-Men surveyed were slightly more likely to subscribe to a larger number of podcasts than women.

-Those surveyed between ages 35-44 and ages 45-54 were also more likely to listen to larger numbers of podcasts.

-When asked if advertising within podcasts had affected their behavior, 71 percent said they’d visited a sponsor’s website, while 62 percent said they’d considered that new product or service. Also, 60 percent said they researched more information about the advertiser.

-40 percent said they’d purchased a product advertised

– Nearly 80 percent of podcast consumers surveyed agreed that “when price and quality is equal,” they “prefer to buy products from companies that advertise on or sponsor” the podcasts they regularly enjoy.

– 78 percent agreed (and 21 percent agreed strongly) that their opinion of a company is more positive when they hear it mentioned in one of the podcasts they regularly enjoy.

-72 percent of respondents were at least somewhat receptive to sponsorship messages in the podcasts they regularly enjoy, with five percent indicating that they are generally “interested in them and/or often find them useful.

-1 in 4 Americans have ever listened to a podcast, and 1 in 10 are at least monthly consumers of podcasts, 

Complete study results here.

Green Rain Marketing, through its Money Talk Network Web property, makes some of the top PodCasts available to advertisers who are seeking unique and more effective ways to reach responsive consumers through new media Internet and Mobile Audio applications.