Concurrent with last week’s NAB Show in Las Vegas was the RAIN Summit West 2012, a gathering of Internet radio players like Pandora, TargetSpot, AdsWizz, Katz360, Spotify, Triton Media, Stitcher and Fox News Radio.
SNL Kagan’s Robin Flynn wrote up an informative digest of the event.
Speakers by and large were optimistic when it came to digital media ads for Internet radio and mobile devices. “Panelists said advertisers are beginning to more consciously make digital audio a part of ad campaigns, with the fact that ad agencies are increasingly reaching out to Internet radio players — one sign of the growing excitement around the medium,” wrote Flynn.
“Part of the new interest stems from the rapidly growing listener numbers and listening hours, as well as the fact that listeners tend to fall in the coveted 18–34 demographic and that listening in the high-growth Hispanic demographic is strong.” Furthermore, Flynn said, “Internet radio tends to “over-deliver in the upper-income demographics.”
Flynn pointed out that speakers quoted ad dollars, cost-per-thousand numbers and listenership measurements rather than vague guesstimations and a promise of a future pot of gold.
Flynn did note that all was not a cakewalk, “Despite the upsurge in listeners and ad revenues, the economics of Internet and streaming radio are challenging due to the high level of copyright fees, which speakers called ‘egregious and imbalanced’ and which make it difficult for services to generate positive cashflow.”
