x RAIN will return on Monday with BIG news! Have a good weekend, and check us out when you get back.

One week left to register for RAIN Summit at early bird rate! If you're attending this year's NAB 2006 in Las Vegas, we hope you include the RAIN  Las Vegas Summit '06 in your plans. The Summit is Monday, April 24th, 12N-5P (with our customary RAIN Reader Cocktail Party following), just steps from the Las Vegas Convention Center at the Renaissance Las Vegas Hotel. Please see the Summit page for details and links to register and reserve your seat. Seating is very limited, so please secure your spot today!

BY DANIEL MCSWAIN
with KURT HANSON REPORTING FROM NEW YORK
The new annual study from Arbitron and Edison Media Research indicates the number of weekly Internet radio listeners nationwide has jumped 50% over last year.

In previous studies' measurements from January 2003, 2004, and 2005, cume Internet radio listening remained nearly steady at about 8%. This new study, titled "The Infinite Dial: Radio's Digital Platforms," shows that as of January 2006 that figure boomed 50%.

In other words, 12% of the U.S. population now regularly listens to Internet radio.

This growth, not surprisingly, is particularly apparent in the younger demos. According to the study, nearly 20% of all 18-34 year olds have listened to Internet radio at least once in the past week. This is a significant milestone, says Arbitron VP and General Manager of Webcast Services Bill Rose.

Rose explained that in his experience, media buyers consider 20% reach a point of "critical mass" for a new medium. Once a new medium hits that 20% benchmark, Rose said media buyers have told him that they believe that medium as "a regular part of the media buying plan."

Pierre Bouvard, President of Arbitron, introduced the study to the group at this morning's "Listen Up!" symposium [previous RAIN coverage here]. Rose and Edison president Larry Rosen presented the study results.

Bouvard, in his opening remarks, also commented on the ripe opportunity for advertisers presented by Internet radio, with three striking characteristics of the medium:

• Net radio listeners represent an incredibly upscale audience
• Listening is predominantly during the "work day," 9A-5P, a time when consumers are often difficult to reach via other media, and
• The medium provides a "clutter free listening environment," which can contribute to more use of the medium, and can minimize an advertising message "drowning" in a sea of commercials.

Rose and Rosen also pointed to corroborating evidence for the huge listening growth: the most recent comScore/Arbitron ratings, which show that 12 month combined Cume for the ratings panel went from 2.2 million to 3.6 million (a gain of 63%), and AQH from 335,000 to 927,000 (up 177%) M-F 6a-7p, over the period of Oct. 2004- Oct. 2005 [read previous RAIN coverage [here].

The "Listen Up!" audience consisted of about 80 media buyers, media planners, and other industry observers. Other speakers at the event included executives from comScore/Arbitron clients Yahoo! Music, AOL Radio, and Clear Channel Online.

From Mediaweek: "Sirius Satellite Radio may lag behind XM Satellite Radio in subscribers, but its Web site is making up for it.

"Since Howard Stern joined Sirius in January, traffic to Sirius’ Web site surpassed XM’s, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. In March, Sirius’ Web site traffic grew 188% compared to a year ago, from 666,000 unique visitors to 1.9 million in March. XM’s traffic grew 47% to nearly 1.7 million...

"Both satellite services are generating return Web traffic on par with other popular audio sites, including Rhapsody, Clear Channel Music Radio Network, and MSN Network. For the month of March, XM averaged 3.7 visits per person, while Sirius averaged 3.5  visits. Rhapsody averaged 3.8 visits per person, Clear Channel 3.7, and MSN 2.7.

"At work, satellite subscribers are likely to access streaming services. Although Howard  Stern’s show is not streamed online, 44% of Sirius’ Web site users logged in to access a media player versus 27% for XM.

“...Jon Gibs, senior director of media for Nielsen/Netratings, [said]... 'As these services continue to gain in popularity by adding new talent  and programming, they could become a significant threat to online music subscription services such as Rhapsody and MSN Radio,' Gibs added."

Read the entire article at Mediaweek.

From Online Media Daily: "MSN has arranged to stream portions of the New Orleans Jazz and Music Festival, which spans two weekends  this spring and features music acts including Fats Domino, Dave Matthews Band, and Bob Dylan.

"MSN intends to stream the key performances live, and also make them available for download on-demand afterwards, said Rob Bennett, general manager for Entertainment and Video Services at MSN. The festival will take place April 28-30 and May 5-7...

"Bennett said MSN had no sponsorship deals to announce at present, but that situation could change as more marketers became aware of the event. When MSN Video streamed the 13th annual Bob Marley festival 'Jam Rock' in February, the company initially planned to display run-of-site ads, but the JamaicaTourist Board contacted MSN and became a sponsor after hearing about the deal through the media."

Read the entire article at Online Media Daily.