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42 Million Americans Listen to Radio Every Week

Friday, April 24, 2009

42 Million Americans Listen to Radio Weekly on Digital Audio Platforms

The latest study by Arbitron and Edison Research shows continued growth in usage and ownership of various forms of digital audio platforms, including online radio, iPod/MP3 players, and podcasting. The weekly online radio audience increased significantly in the past year to 17% of the U.S. population age 12 and older; up from 13% in 2008. On a weekly basis, online radio reaches 20% of 25-to-54 year-olds; up from 15% in 2008.

Bill Rose, senior vice president of marketing, Arbitron Inc., says "The sharp growth in weekly usage of Online radio... provides compelling evidence that radio's digital platforms may be reaching critical mass. We are... seeing encoded streams of AM/FM broadcasts with significant audience in local markets."

Key findings from The Infinite Dial 2009: Radio's Digital Platforms, include:

More than one in five radio listeners (21%) say AM/FM radio has a big impact on their lives; ranking second only to owners of the Apple iPhone in particular (23%) and cell phone owners in general (47%) as the audio platform/device that has a big impact on people's lives.

Online radio listeners are more likely to be upscale, well-educated and employed full time;

- 54% of weekly online radio listeners are employed full-time (compared to 43% among persons 12 and older);
- 16% of weekly online radio listeners live in homes with an annual income greater than $100,000 (vs. 10% among persons 12 and older);
- 37% of weekly online radio listeners have a college degree or higher education level (vs. 29% among persons 12 and older).

Weekly online video viewing among persons age 12 and older is up significantly in the past year, from 18% in 2008 to 27% (approximately 69 million) in 2009.

- 34% of persons age 12 and older report having a profile on Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, or any other social networking Web site, up from - 24% in 2008
- 63%  of teens age 12-to-17 report having a profile on these social networking sites
- 64% 18-to-24 year-olds have a profile on these social networking sites.

iPod/portable MP3 player ownership and iPod use continues to grow dramatically.

- 42% of persons age 12 and older own an iPod or other brand of portable MP3 player

- 64% of 18-to-24 year-olds own a digital audio player

- 32% of teens age 12-to-17 and persons 18-to-24 are spending less time with over-the-air radio specifically due to time spent with iPod/other portable MP3 players

- 22% of Americans age 12 and older have ever listened to an audio podcast

- 11% (27 million) reported having listened to an audio podcast in the past month in 2009

Tom Webster, vice president of strategy and marketing, Edison Research, concludes that "... consumer use of new digital platforms... is becoming nearly ubiquitous... a window of opportunity for radio to... spread its content across the expanding choices consumers use to control their media experience."

The complete study, The Infinite Dial 2009: Radio's Digital Platforms, may be downloaded free of charge via the Arbitron and Edison Research Web sites linked here.

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We use the term research in the broadest possible sense. We do not perform an audit, nor do we analyze the data for accuracy or reliability. Our intention is to inform you of the existence of research materials and so we present reports as they are presented to us. The only requirements we impose are that they are potentially useful and relevant to our readers and that they pass the rudimentary test of relying on acceptable industry standards. We explicitly do not take responsibility for the findings. Please be aware of this and check the source for yourself if you intend to rely on any of the data we present.

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Esquire Magazine

Esquire Magazine

by William J. McGee , Thursday, April 23, 2009
What a quarter it's been for Esquire. In February the American Society of Magazine Editors publicly called out the magazine for guidelines violations, citing its "trap door" cover that month, in which an Open Here box led to an advertisement. In the end ASME issued an acquittal, though a strongly worded one: "There are ASME members who believe this cover execution is little short of editorial sacrilege...The lingering concern among ASME members is, will competition force magazines to accommodate especially invasive ad executions on their covers, disguising a sales coup as an editorial initiative?" Then an item last week on Gawker -- "Esquire Is Getting Nervous" -- noted the publication's ad revenue dropped 22% in the first quarter. Certainly this drop was unrelated to the cover "flap" (no pun intended).

Speaking of covers, a close-up of George Clooney graces the May issue. But, wait, there's more! It turns out it's the "first-ever Mix & Match cover," and by ripping and folding horizontally, you can replace George's chin, or browline, or philtrum -- and, hey, it's Barack Obama! Or one of 25 other guys. Collect 'em all, kids!

Apparently this is no ethics violation, but it does seem an odd gimmick for a mag that has achieved the gravitas of Esquire. In fact, last year the Museum of Modern Art launched an exhibit saluting the Esquire covers of George Lois, circa 1962 to 1972 (Andy Warhol drowning in a can of Campbell's tomato soup, Muhammad Ali as St. Sebastian, etc.). Somehow it seems doubtful that in 40 years MoMA will place the Mix & Match series under glass, no matter whose nose is chosen.

Obviously Esquire is willing to employ new and innovative methods to sell issues, and that's no small task for print publications these days. But is it too 20th Century to suggest that blinking lights (yes, Esquire tried that with an E-Ink cover a few months back) can't do the work of excellent writing and artwork?

The May issue features some content that is excellent and some that isn't. Not surprisingly, there's some really good writing here, particularly:

Scott Raab's review of a new Mike Tyson documentary captures both the boy and the man inside the ex-champ.
Tom Chiarella's lengthy response to "What is a Man?" may or may not line up with your own, but it's elegantly stated.
Mike Sager's profile of Todd Marinovich, a hotshot football draft pick turned junkie, is a riveting look at the dark side of American sports culture. Other pieces don't soar quite as high. A profile of another Todd --"Todd Palin is the Man for America Now" -- fails to elevate the First Dude into the icon of manhood we're meant to believe he has become (unless you work for the Republican Party of Alaska).

If you're noticing a pattern, it's not accidental. Mr. Clooney's facial parts are on the cover for a reason, after all. This is a themed issue: How To Be A Man 2009. The magazine's first person plural -- we this and we that -- never stops offering advice, though much of it focuses on what to purchase (leaving the feeling that ad pages come in many guises). But whether Esquire is advising you which power tools to keep in your garage or how to make a killer barbeque sauce, you're often left with an overarching sense that the editors are trying just a bit too hard.

It's a given that other generations -- such as my father's -- would have gotten a good laugh out of all this man stuff. But then he and many like him were facing the hostile guns of a German Panzer Division when they were learning how to become men. That's not to say our definition of manhood hasn't radically changed in the decades since; I know I've succeeded in ways he never dreamed about.

But I remember a true tough guy who once told me that the toughest guys he had ever met never spoke about being tough. Corollary: If you have to learn how to be a man from a magazine article, it may be too late. Ironically, on page 25, Ian McShane of "Deadwood" more or less states this in his Q&A:
"ESQ: What's the best advice you ever got?
IM: None at all. Work it out on your own, son."

In one of my other lives, I teach a college course entitled "Writing Creatively for Magazines," where last week we discussed at length Tom Junod's transcendent profile of Mr. Rogers for Esquire, published in 1998. Without any hyperbole, I described it to my students as being the single best magazine article I've ever read. Thankfully, Junod still writes for Esquire.

Nobody asked, but that would be my 21st Century strategy for Esquire: Fewer Blinking Lights on the Covers, More Tom Junods on the Inside Pages. That's something even MoMA could celebrate.

MAG STATS
Published by: Hearst Communications, Inc.
Frequency: Monthly
Web site: www.esquire.com


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William J. McGee is a freelance journalist who writes a monthly travel column for USAToday.com. 

Magazine Rack for Thursday, April 23, 2009:
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=104725

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