• by September 19, 2000

Webcasting is not longer a thing of the future.

According to a recent Arbitron Internet Information Services study, over 75% of advertising agencies buy online ads, and one out of five who purchased online also placed webcast ads.

Additionally, market data increasingly supports the commonly held belief among ad executives that webcast usage will increase significantly in the next three years. Jupiter Communications predicts that by 2005, 9% of all Web advertising will be streaming media, further illustrating the trend.

According to Joan FitzGerald, director of marketing and research & development at Arbitron Internet Information Services, "Consumers are turning to the Internet for content that can't be easily found on traditional media, including international channels — such as Virgin Radio or the many Canadian channels — and Internet-exclusive channels with highly targeted formats."

FitzGeralg, commenting on the newly released ratings from Arbitron's webcast tracking service, said that the results bear out the findings from Arbitron's upcoming fifth Internet study which shows that listening online has tripled in the last two years.

Arbitron, a Ceridian Corporation company, has announced that international webcaster, Virgin Radio, ranked number one in terms of Aggregate Tuning Hours (ATH) in the July webcast ratings, followed by Internet-only streaming audio sites — NetRadio and KNAC.

In the month of July, the hot adult contemporary Internet channel, www.virginradio.co.uk, streamed by Akamai and Ginger Online, recorded 236,100 ATH or the sum total of all hours that listeners tune to a given channel during a month. NetRadio, streamed by Akamai and iBeam Broadcasting, occupied five of the top 10 slots with "80’s Hits" channel ranked number two with 201,000 ATH.

Claiming the number three spot is streaming audio site, KNAC.com Pure Rock, a heavy metal lifestyle community channel streamed by Akamai and Enigma Digital, with 148,000 ATH. Ranking number eight, WABC-AM’s webcast channel, www.wabcradio.com, was the top ranked U.S. radio station streaming audio online with 119,500 ATH.

A notable newcomer in the Arbitron Webcast Ratings in July was Global Media.com. Stations and channels streamed by Global Media include 16 of the top 75 including streaming audio channels "Kool Hits" with 69,100 ATH and "The Edge" with 37,600 ATH.

"Independent verification of our client’s Internet listenership will allow Global Media to continue to attract higher dollar advertisers and share more revenue with our clients," said Jeff Mandelbaum, president and CEO, Global Media.com.

Arbitron Webcast Ratings currently measures over 800 stations and channels, representing over seven million aggregate tuning hours in the month of July.

Earlier this summer, another company jumped into the webcast tracking field, citing advertiser interest in next-day audience size and demographic reports for webcasts. The company, Arbitr