America Online’s AOL Radio Network, Yahoo!’s LAUNCHcast, and Microsoft’s MSN Radio and Windowsmedia.com have signed on as charter subscribers for the new service.
The new measurement service will be called comScore Arbitron Online Radio Ratings. The data will be released monthly and the first estimates from the service will be released next week.
The comScore Arbitron Online Radio Ratings service is based on a subset of approximately 200,000 U.S. participants within the comScore global consumer panel. Using proprietary and patent-pending technology, comScore passively and continuously captures the online behavior of these panelists, including online radio listening behavior.
The comScore Arbitron Online Radio Ratings service will provide customers with Average Quarter Hour and Cume audience estimates for 38 demographics and 15 standard broadcast dayparts. Each month Arbitron will publish the average weekly audience for persons 12+, Monday through Sunday, 6AM-Midnight on its Web site.
This allows online radio to be planned and bought using the same metrics as those used by traditional radio.
“Consumers are increasingly tuning to online radio and advertisers need credible audience measurement to justify their increasing investment in this medium,” said Bill Rose, vice president, Arbitron New Ventures. “We are combining Arbitron’s expertise in radio ratings with comScore’s online measurement capabilities to provide the numbers that agencies need to evaluate online radio in the same terms as traditional broadcast media.”
“Entertainment programming is more important than ever to online consumers, and online radio in particular has become an integral part of their daily routines,” stated Bill Wilson, senior vice president and general manager of AOL Entertainment.
“Arbitron and comScore Media Metrix are well respected by agencies and advertisers and they provide the credibility needed for online radio measurement,” said Chris Korol, product manager of Microsoft.
- From an Arbitron News Release
