NetRadio Tops Arbitron's August Webcast Ratings

NetRadio (www.netradio.com) was the number one rated radio webcaster in Arbitron's August ratings, grabbing 6 of the top 10 spots. NetRadio's "80s Hits" ranked number one with 311,600 Aggregate Tuning Hours (ATH), which is the total number of hours that listeners tune in to a given channel during a month.

VirginRadio (www.virginradio.co.uk) was number two with 264,800 ATH.

"Listening online is showing significant increase across the board for channels in the Webcast Ratings," said Joan FitzGerald, director of marketing and research & development, Arbitron Internet Information Services. "The increase was particularly large for NetRadio because listenership has grown. Plus, we were able to include all of NetRadio's streaming media data for the first time in the August Webcast Ratings. These results reflect the findings from our latest Internet study, which showed that listening online has tripled in the last two years and that people who consume streaming media are a desirable consumer segment."

Arbitron also said that numbers for its July ratings had to be revised due to "incomplete data from some of its data providers". The missing data now increases the Aggregate Tuning Hours in the July revised ratings for 11 channels.

"We have taken steps to insure that we receive complete data from now on," said FitzGerald.

Arbitron measures over 900 stations and channels, representing over 10 million Aggregate Tuning Hours in August.