measurement

Arbitron's long-awaited cross-platform ratings service (more here) is "still in the works," according to company EVP/COO Sean Creamer on the Arbitron Q3 conference call yesterday. "It's not a question of if, but when, we launch this service."

Creamer said, "the goal is an integrated service so (radio) stations get total credit" for listening, regardless of the platform on which it happens. FMQB reports that for Internet-delivered radio content, the Arbitron service "would use online logs to measure Internet radio listenership and include all types of Web radio, from terrestrial stations' streams to services such as Pandora."

As we reported last month (here), Arbtitron announced an arrangement with comScore and ESPN to measure the sports network's audience for audio, video, and display content across radio, television, the web, and mobile platforms. Mediapost quotes Creamer saying on yesterday's conference call, "This (ESPN) project underscores radio’s importance and relevance in a cross-platform world."

Read more from FMBQ here and Mediapost here.

While we were waiting for Arbitron to finally unveil their long-awaited unified on-air/online radio measurement (see RAIN here), they've announced a deal with comScore and ESPN to measure audio, video, and display across radio, tv, the web, and mobile.

The goal here is to create audience measurement using common metrics on a national and continuous basis, so content providers and marketers can gauge the reach, engagement, and cross-platform duplication of audience.

"The unprecedented size and scope of the project is being driven by the multiplatform measurement requirements of ESPN, which delivers video, audio and display content via television (both in-home and out-of-home), online and mobile video, PC web, mobile web, apps, tablets, digital audio and terrestrial radio" (see yesterday's top story in RAIN here), the companies' announcement read.

The initiative (characterized as "five-platform" as it separates "smartphones" adn "tablets") will integrate "the census and panel-based PC, mobile and TV set-top box measurement capabilities of comScore along with enhanced, single-source, multiplatform measurement capabilities of the Arbitron Portable People Meter (PPM) technology," according to the statement.

Though no roll-out date has been announced, ESPN, comScore and Arbitron will unveil more details October 1-3 at the upcoming Advertising Week convention in New York.

Read the press release here.

As we've seen in years past, Internet radio entered a period of "summer doldrums" in June, according to Triton Digital's new Webcast Metrics. Most webcasters on the Top 20 ranker (Domestic Mon-Sun 6a-12m daypart) were flat or declined month-to-month, including industry leaders Pandora, Clear Channel, Slacker and CBS.

But the Top 20 chart in June also included a new entrant: NPR Member Stations, which came in at #16 with an AAS of 5,605. In March, NPR announced it would make Triton's Webcast Metrics and other services available to member stations (RAIN coverage here).

"Summer doldrums" are a period of flat or declining audience levels traditionally seen during the warm weather months as people vacation and generally spend less time in the office (where a majority of web radio listening takes place). 

Pandora's AAS (Average Active Sessions, essentially equivalent to AQH) declined 2% month-to-month, reaching 1,215,904. That's up 143% year-over-year. Meanwhile, #2-ranked Clear Channel declined 1% month-to-month with an AAS of 181,679 in June. The broadcaster is up 126% year-over-year. 

Ranked at #3, CBS Radio saw a sharper decline: down 8% month-to-month to reach 52,443 (down 44% year-over-year). And #4-slotted Slacker (which includes AOL Radio) dropped 2% month-to-month. The webcaster now stands at 48,502, up 58% year-over-year.

Bucking the trend, AccuRadio saw its AAS increase by 11%.

Radio One / Interactive One saw the largest month-to-month percentage decline with a 17% drop. Most other webcasters in the Top 20 ranker saw month-to-month declines of 0-5%.

(The chart above shows the growth of Pandora, CBS, Clear Channel, the top 5 terrestrial radio groups and Slacker from September 2009 through June 2012. Note that Pandora's AAS numbers from December 2010 through mid-August 2011 were affected by the omission of tracking code in some of its mobile apps. Click to view in full size.)

You can find the Domestic Mon-Sun 6a-12m ranking below. Find out more from Triton Digital’s Webcast Metrics report here (PDF) and find our coverage of May 2012’s ratings here.

Pandora and Triton Digital have released new local AQH and cume ratings for June 2012 which show the webcaster making gains over their earlier figures.

Those earlier ratings for March 2012 were released in May, when the companies announced Triton Digital would measure Pandora's national and local audience using the more-traditional AQH and cume metrics as part of their new MRC-accredited Triton Webcast Metrics Local report (RAIN coverage here).

The new ratings for June (technically 5/24 to 6/20) show Pandora with an AQH rating of 1.1-1.3 for nearly all of the top 10 markets among A18-34s. As for A18-49s, Pandora's ratings fall between 0.7 and 1.0. Pandora's cume ratings range between 24 and 30 among A18-34s (the top market being San Francisco with a cume rating of 30.2), while among A18-49s the cume rating falls between 17 and nearly 23.

"Pandora has a weekly cume of 25,333,249, a 6% increase from the March 2012 weekly cume of 23,874,175," the company said, "which ranks Pandora as the largest adult 18-49 radio network in the U.S. when compared to radio networks in the Arbitron June 2012 RADAR 113 report."

You can find Pandora's press release here. Below you can find our charts tracking Pandora's AQH from July 2011 through the latest June 2012 numbers.

Clear Channel had the largest percentage month-to-month growth in May amongst the Top 20 webcasters ranked in Triton Digital's Webcast Metrics. However, in terms of raw audience gains, Pandora was once again far-and-away the leader.

Pandora's AAS (Average Active Sessions, essentially equivalent to AQH) grew by more than 51,000 from April to May 2012, according to the Domestic Mon-Sun 6a-12m daypart. That's a monthly growth of 4% and a year-to-year gain of 129%. Pandora had an AAS of 1,241,819 in May 2012.

Meanwhile, #2-ranked Clear Channel grew 7% month-to-month, reaching an AAS of 183,257. Clear Channel's AAS is up 128% year-to-year, just about matching Pandora's yearly gain.

Slacker -- currently ranked #4; also includes AOL Radio -- grew its AAS 4% month-to-month and continues to gain on the #3-ranked CBS Radio, which declined 3% from April. CBS Radio is down 39% year-to-year, while Slacker has climbed 72%.

Most other broadcasters listed in the Top 20 ranker were flat or down month-to-month. Exceptions include Townsquare (up 6%), Univision (up 6%) and Cox (up 4%). As for the pureplays, Digitally Imported grew 2% month-to-month while AccuRadio declined 4%. 

Though May had the Memorial Day holiday -- and arguably could be the start of the "summer duldrums," a period in which Internet radio listening traditionally declines slightly -- it actually had about the same number of weekdays as April. 

(The chart above shows the growth of Pandora, CBS, Clear Channel, the top 5 terrestrial radio groups and Slacker from September 2009 through May 2012. Note that Pandora's AAS numbers from December 2010 through mid-August 2011 were affected by the omission of tracking code in some of its mobile apps. Click to view in full size.)

You can find the Domestic Mon-Sun 6a-12m ranking below. Find out more from Triton Digital’s Webcast Metrics report here (PDF) and find our coverage of April 2012’s ratings here.

Pandora's active listener count and share of U.S. radio listening showed growth in June, according to new stats released by the webcast. But its total listener hours were roughly flat month-to-month.

Pandora says it delivered 1.08 billion listener hours in June, which is up 77% year-over-year. That figure is down 1.8% from May 2012.

The service's active listener count reached 54.5 million during June, up 51% year-over-year and up 2.3% from May. Pandora held a 5.95% share of U.S. radio listening in June. That's up 3.37% year-over-year and 2.6% from May.

You can find more from Pandora here.