“Nielsen//NetRatings… announced today that the number of active broadband users from home increased 28% year-over-year, from 74.3 million in February 2005 to 95.5 million in February 2006. Broadband composition among the U.S. active online population has seen vigorous growth during the past three years, increasing at least ten percentage points annually and hitting an all-time high of 68% for active Internet users in February 2006.” [via RAIN]
Category Archives: Media & Culture
Slow growth for HD radio
Radio research firm Bridge Ratings projects HD receivers will be in the hands of 1.06 million consumers by the end of 2007, 2.0 million by the end of 2008 and 8.84 million by the end of 2010. Meanwhile, Bridge predicts that XM Satellite Radio will grow to 9.0 million subscribers by the end of 2006 as rival Sirius grows to about 6 million subscribers over the same period. (R&R via RAIN)
Seven in 10 watching TV news?
That’s one of the findings in a new Harris Poll of about 3,000 U.S. adults.
While broadcast television news appears to be the most popular medium sought, many adults also get their news several times a week or daily by going online to get news (64%), reading a local daily newspaper (63%), listening to radio news broadcasts (54%), listening to talk radio stations (37%), listening to satellite news programming (19%), and reading a national newspaper (18%).
Update: Table on Media Usage from Radio Business Report. The most disturbing stat? Radio news tied with online in the 59+ group. Shudder.
Current TV
I finally got a taste of current TV tonight (DirecTV 366). I say “finally” because I’ve heard about the channel but never bothered to find it and take a look. I thought it was interesting, fresh. If you’re not familiar with the idea behind the channel:
“We slice our schedule into short segments that we call “pods” — each just a few minutes long. And much of it comes straight from you. We call it viewer-created content, or VC2. Right now, VC2 makes up about a third of our channel — and that share is growing. Anyone who wants to contribute can upload a video. Then, everyone in the Current online community votes for what should be on TV.”
It was sort of like 60 Minutes for people under the age of 70. Very sharp graphics. And they include a little status bar near the bottom of the screen to let you know where you are in the segment. Nicely integrated with their website. I’ll be going back for another taste.
Couch Change: 02.19.06
Single-digit revenue gains for commercial radio (US) forecast for 2006 (iloveradio.org) … Friday was Rick Sellers’ last day on the the air at KMRY, Cedar Rapids, IA. I knew Rick during his WMT days. Rick owns and manages KMRY … Hadn’t checked on the Frappr map for a few weeks but delighted to see that didgeridoodler Jamie Nelson (Larkspur, CA) has made it coast-to-coast. Looking forward to seeing Jamie (and all the rest) at Gnomedex 6.0 in late June … Jim Mathies is developing a feed reader. I don’t pretend to understand what he’s doing but I can tell you that he’s a clever boy and likely to come up with something wonderful. Stay tuned … Andy Rooney wonders if we should be honoring all presidents. Me too.