Internet Radio Audience Measurement
Encyclopedia
Internet radio audience measurement is any method used to determine the number of people listening to an Internet radio broadcast
. This information is usually obtained from the broadcaster's audio streaming server. Icecast
, Nicecast, and SHOUTcast
are examples of audio streaming servers that can provide listener statistics for audience measurement. These numbers often include information such as listeners' IP addresses, the media player they are using, how long they listened, and their computer's
operating system
.
This approach differs greatly from terrestrial radio audience measurement. Demographic and psychographic
information cannot be easily collected due to geographically diverse nature of typical Internet radio audiences. Arbitron
, a research
company in the United States
which collects listener data on terrestrial radio audiences, has begun collecting listener data for Internet radio stations based on a panel of 200,000 users. The statistics collected from those users is then projected against the estimated 52 million actual Internet radio listeners.
Another company named Ando Media
, a software company in the United States
also measures Internet radio audience. It uses actual data collected from streaming servers rather than estimated data.
TouchCast, a company based in Belgium, offers a commercial downloadable stream analytics software called CasterStats
, which allows any broadcaster to measure its internet audience from their streaming server data.
Broadcast
Broadcast or Broadcasting may refer to:* Broadcasting, the transmission of audio and video signals* Broadcast, an individual television program or radio program* Broadcast , an English electronic music band...
. This information is usually obtained from the broadcaster's audio streaming server. Icecast
Icecast
Icecast is a streaming media project released as free software maintained by the Xiph.org Foundation. It also refers specifically to the server program which is part of the project. Icecast was created in December 1998/January 1999 by Jack Moffitt and Barath Raghavan to provide an open source...
, Nicecast, and SHOUTcast
SHOUTcast
SHOUTcast is cross-platform proprietary software for streaming media over the Internet. The software, developed by Nullsoft , allows digital audio content, primarily in MP3 or HE-AAC format, to be broadcast to and from media player software, enabling the creation of Internet radio "stations"...
are examples of audio streaming servers that can provide listener statistics for audience measurement. These numbers often include information such as listeners' IP addresses, the media player they are using, how long they listened, and their computer's
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
.
This approach differs greatly from terrestrial radio audience measurement. Demographic and psychographic
Psychographic
In the fields of marketing, demographics, opinion research, and social research in general, psychographic variables are any attributes relating to personality, values, attitudes, interests, or lifestyles. They are also called IAO variables...
information cannot be easily collected due to geographically diverse nature of typical Internet radio audiences. Arbitron
Arbitron
Arbitron is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio audiences. It was founded as American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by merging with L.A. based Coffin, Cooper and Clay in the early 1950s...
, a research
Research
Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...
company in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
which collects listener data on terrestrial radio audiences, has begun collecting listener data for Internet radio stations based on a panel of 200,000 users. The statistics collected from those users is then projected against the estimated 52 million actual Internet radio listeners.
Another company named Ando Media
Ando Media
Ando Media “Ando” is a company formed in 2004 by a software company, Ando Media, Inc. and Aritaur Communications, Inc. an owner of radio stations and Internet related ventures. Ando provides a number of products which it licenses to the internet radio and content delivery industry that assist...
, a software company in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
also measures Internet radio audience. It uses actual data collected from streaming servers rather than estimated data.
TouchCast, a company based in Belgium, offers a commercial downloadable stream analytics software called CasterStats
CasterStats
TouchCast is a company formed in 2009 by a Pierre Mengal, Jean-Christophe Gregoire and Sylvain Guerrin. The first product, CasterStats, gives broadcasters of streaming media access to information about audience size, duration, location and also data on the players used by their audiences.As a...
, which allows any broadcaster to measure its internet audience from their streaming server data.