BY DANIEL MCSWAIN
The real story hidden in yesterday's comScore Arbitron ratings release (here) is AOL Radio's blockbuster ratings for October, 2005, with their Mon-Sun AQH growing over 68.7% from September's numbers.

While indicative of the larger October jump in ratings for all webcasters on the Arbitron panel, AOL Radio's gains stand out. AOL's audience size in October lept to almost double its average for the previous few months.

The other big story that, upon reflection, is visible in the Arbitron ratings release is the across-the-board bounce back from lackluster summer AQH numbers for all five participating webcasters. All five went through a period of lower ratings throughout the summer months, but the gains from September to October show that the webcasters seem to have recovered from the slump and appear to be back on track with growth patterns from before the summer.

It seems a bit odd to me that Arbitron would chose to cloud stellar October ratings with a more big-picture look that does not do justice to the month's growth. It may also be worth noting that Arbitron is now running almost three months behind the survey period in releasing these results; the previous month's ratings (Sept. 05) were released in a press release almost ten weeks ago (here).



The most recent ratings results for other webcasters, as produced by the firm Webcast Metrics, were covered in RAIN here.

From the Chicago Sun-Times: "Imagine yourself sitting with your laptop computer fully hooked up to the Web through high-speed broadband on the lawn in Grant Park or in the stands at Soldier Field...

"That fantasy might become a reality this year, thanks to the energies of Chicago's Mister Connectivity, Chris O'Brien, and his high powered team.

"No major city in the world has citywide coverage. Taipei (population 2.6 million), capital of Taiwan, probably will be the first. It has 3,300 wireless 'access points' (transmitter/antenna units) that cover half the city's 276 square kilometers, and Taiwan consulate official Lishan Chang in Chicago states that 100 percent coverage will be completed by June. It's being installed at a cost of $93 million by Q-Ware Systems, Inc., which will recoup the cost by a usage fee of $12.50 per month per subscriber.

"The final plan O'Brien will present next Tuesday calls for an RFP (request for proposals) to be  issued in coming weeks to dozens of equipment suppliers... and service providers... that can handle installation and network maintenance.

"Installation, in which the access unit, about the size of a hard-cover book, will be mounted on city-owned locations like lamp posts, could then take place fairly rapidly, probably before year-end.

"He sees the move as a win/win for everyone. 'The user will be free to access broadband service anywhere within city limits, indoors and out, at very low cost,' he says. 'The city will provide an important convenience at no cost to the taxpayer. And the project will mean good business for the suppliers.'"

Read the entire at the Chicago Sun Times.

From Media Daily News: "NBC Universal will be upgrading its owned TV stations' Internet efforts with top-level Internet tools — a move that could send a message to its affiliates as those stations look to make sense of recenthigh-profile programming on-demand network deals. NBC's 14 stations will get an Internet facelift, including increased video, Web-exclusive content, podcasts, and other wireless applications...

"The new sites feature a top-level video player on the station's home pages. Each station will produce daily webcasts hosted by anchors. Other video features will include news clips on health, entertainment, sports, and consumer news.

"NBC Universal wants its individual stations to pump out Web-specific content that could be shared by the entire group. One such program is "The Download," a Web-only daily magazine program...

"Nervous network affiliates have been pressed to come up with answers as networks increasingly shorten the programming exclusivity of their network shows on traditional TV windows... Programming analysts suggest that the best business defense for stations is to offer up rich and deep localized video content on network affiliates' own Web sites."

Read the entire story at Media Daily News.