Arbitron Rates Top Webcasters for July
Arbitron is now providing server-side measurements of listeners to streaming audio programming. The results for July 2000 are reported in an article on the Arbitron Web Site.
The metric they use is something called Aggregate Tuning Hours (ATH). According to the article, ATH is "the sum total of all hours that listeners tune to a given channel during a month." According to Arbitron, the company measures listenership on "over 800 stations and channels, representing over seven million aggregate tuning hours in the month of July."
Most interesting, from our perspective, is the way that over-the-air radio stations' channels fit into the overall Arbitron ratings. WABC 770 AM in New York is the highest ranked traditional broadcast outlet. It appears that the largest number of American radio stations represented in the ratings are located in the Metropolitan New York and San Francisco Bay areas.
Another surprise in these ratings is the number of Canadian radio stations that have large on-line audiences. These stations figure prominently in the catalog of audio sites displayed by RealNetworks. It's hard to imagine any other explanation for their success, other than the fact that they are among the choices that pop up right away on the major media players.
We wonder how long it will be before Infinity Broadcasting relents and allows their stations to be streamed. Not too long, apparently.