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Internet only stations

B

b-turner

Recently I have been trying to research online only stations to determine listening habits and unique listeners.

The information is tough to come by. Mostly it is partial details. For example, I'd look for total visitors, total unique listeners, total number of sessions and length of the average session. Certainly, if available, the average numbers for prime listening hours is helpful too.

I have been looking specifically at college stations that are not over the air nor carried via cable TV audio but exclusively online only. From what I can gather, the listening is pretty minimal even with good marketing and fairly decent programming.

Naturally, I'd love to learn from some actual cases. You could PM me if you are willing to share. I'll keep any sharing confidential

I selected college internet only as a target (although that's just a starting place in my research). I figured the college student would be tech savvy and programming better targeted to the student body.

One college station thought 0.5% of the student body listens even with consistent marketing on campus. I thought that was pretty miserable. Even the programming was okay and there was a little consistency in the shows. For example 4 songs in each hour (maybe 25%) are 'currents' all shows must include. Exceptions are naturally talk shows and shows that deviate from the normal format. Like broadcast radio, specialty music shows were time/day targeted to match typical listening patterns.

Another college station that streamed and was on a cable TV channel on a message channel where they were the audio stated 78% of listening was via TV versus internet.

At this point the big winners for internet listening seem to be the Pandora types, over the air radio stations that stream and those internet only streams from the corporations that offer many formats and have the ability to do extensive marketing.

If internet only listening research stays around the figures I have seen, which are tiny in comparison to broadcast radio, I have to wonder why. Obviously awareness is one factor, mobility might be another. I'll share what I learn without naming names.
 
You have to remember that many Collage Radio stations have a part 15 transmitter if they don't have a Low Power FM station (100 watts) and if they have been around awhile before the FCC changed the LPFM rules they have 10 watt station. With the part 15 transmitters they do go 300 feet from the antenna and if they are using carrier current can travel the whole length of the campus (if they use their own power lines).

Myself as an Internet Radio station don't get many local listeners. Though now that I live in town I'm thinking about a part 15 FM transmitter because I do live near lots of highly traveled areas library, bar, restaurants, and apartments well within the 300 ft to 1/4 mile range. If they were to tune to 107.5 they would pick up my Internet station and if they were to hear the website they may tune in via Internet.

I've done some research into part 15 and found that many stations got more local listeners by running a part 15 transmitter that is FCC certified and running clean without any harmonics to other Radio signals. Part 15 hobby broadcasting may be what is needed to give some local Internet Radio stations some publicity so more people can listen.
 
I specifically searched out internet only stations but also found a few with audio on a cable TV channel and a couple with a part 15. There are a few leaky cable/carrier current stations out there too. My point is the internet only stations where the station is the sanctioned college station, the listening numbers I have seen, what few they are, look incredibly low, shockingly low. I never figured this to be the case. With all the articles about how the younger demos are using internet platforms for radio listening, I'd expect higher numbers than I'm seeing for internet only college stations.

A few stations I have been in contact with say the college does not want a licensed station because of the liability from student organizations being lax on the FCC Rules and Regulations.
 
I would think the availability of streams from other colleges, hobbyists and commercial sources would cut into listening time for the listener's own college internet station, especially if those other webcasters play more of the music that the student likes, or have specialty shows that the student enjoys, or are just something different from the student station at the listener's own school. I'll bet a lot of online listening to college stations is by people who work at them or their friends.
 
You should get data for your research starting with the Shoutcast DNA while it is still available. You will find a lot of online stations with very high numbers. But the numbers you will see is all the information for the old platform. The online stations using Shoutcast don't even get more information. Our clients using Radiojar do have the information available to them that you are interested in. This includes number of sessions, the average listening time per sessions, peak hours, locations, and how much data was used to stream. Radiojar does not have or provide a public website similar to Shoutcast DNA to provide the listener statistics to the public using our platform.
 
Could they possible fix the first topic posts on here, so we don't have to read them one word per line at a time......................I feel like a news person reading a teleprompter.
 
gregg75 said:
Could they possible fix the first topic posts on here, so we don't have to read them one word per line at a time....
Click to expand...

Maybe the problem is on YOUR end of the transaction. Change some browser settings? You are seeing something that is not happening on my machine.
 
The problem with internet broadcasting is that everyone does it. There are millions of equally available streams to listen to. Why would someone choose your particular one?

If you live in a city, a Part 15 station would absolutely have more listeners just by people driving by and scanning stations. It's the reality of Internet broadcasting, and why no one makes money off it.
 
I agree Ravens. I had figured a college station, the official voice of said college, as an internet only signal, targeted programming and college related news and information might do better than the random person who set up an internet station on a laptop. However, it appears this is not the case. The only stations I can find with any substantial listening are those actual on the air broadcast stations that stream and those formatted music streams owned by the big corporations that typically offer a big variety of formats and basically unlimited numbers on how many can stream.

I can say even those numbers are low. One station I know, active on Facebook and other venues, reaching about 750,000 in their coverage and has well known local jocks barely exceeds 20 listeners at a time online. He's not the number one station but I can say he has a very well targeted format for the primary demographic in his coverage area. Certainly the station is widely known. From folks I know in other major markets, streaming is pretty much in the low to mid hundreds at best.

It is easy to see the numbers don't work for advertisers. The cost per thousand would be many, many multiples of all other media if they were to break even, much less make a profit. This is even the case if audio ads were not allowed and homepage ads were. Unless you go through the right people, Sound Exchange's minimum charges are typically several times 100% of the income gained by an internet only station, not to mention the time consuming reporting requirements. It is sad the 'fix' for a problem with compensation is laid upon the innocent streamer that works to build sales for the musician and all other associated entities.
 
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