According to the new Arbitron/Edison Research study, weekly online radio has increased by 30% over last year. It also revealed that Smartphone ownership has tripled in the last two years. It is estimated that there are 76 million Americans age 12+ are reached by online radio. Online radio is reaching 29% of the U.S. population and, again, has increased by 30% from last year.

This study has found that 44% of all Americans 12+ own a Smartphone.  This is about half of all cell phone users. 61% own a portable digital media device (Smartphone, MP3 player or tablet) and 40 percent of the total users own an Apple device (iPod/iPhone/iPad).  17% of all cell phone owners have listened to online radio streamed in their cars by connecting their phones to their car stereo.  This is an increase of 50% over 11% last year.

Bill Rose, Senior Vice President of Marketing for Arbitron had this to say about the findings: “We’ve been tracking the usage of online radio in this series since 1998, and this year’s increase in weekly usage is the largest year-over-year jump we’ve ever recorded. The increased demand for online audio content, and the ever-expanding variety of that content, shows that online radio continues to be a resilient, adaptive media for the changing needs of today’s consumer.”

The study was completed with the interviewing of 2,020 Americans. The interviews were conducted between, January 20 to February 19, 2012. Arbitron used its fall 2011 survey Diarykeepers and also random dial calls to those Diarykeepers that were not available for survey. Out of the 2,020 surveyed, 45% of the completed interviews were from Diarykeepers and 55% form random calls, both landline and mobile phones.

Marquis McCoy is a Media Planner / Buyer at The Radio Agency. Please follow The Radio Agency’s Blog “Sounding Board” by subscribing to the email or RSS links above. Visit our website TheRadioAgency.com