Report: TuneIn Funding a Good Sign for Radio

Glenn Peoples

More people are listening to Internet radio and they're listening longer. Self-reported time spent listening to online radio was about 12 hours in the first quarter of 2013, almost double the six hours, 13 minutes five years earlier, according to Arbitron. During that time span, the percent of listeners 12 and older that listen to online radio weekly rose more than doubled to 33% from 13%.

Investors should continue to put money into the Internet radio space because so much potential exists, according to Glenn Peoples at billboard.com.  It may seem like TuneIn, Pandora and others are faced with stiff competition from established and growing companies, but the typical digital service offers radio only as a feature. Spotify, Google Play Music All Access, Rhapsody, Rdio and Deezer don't focus just on radio. Apple will be unique in that its pending Internet radio service will be a standalone service.

The radio market has room for Apple. In the U.S. alone there are 243 million radio listeners aged 12 and that listen for more than two hours a day, according to Arbitron. And while Pandora has a big lead in the U.S., the playing field is much more level in other markets. A huge, global market is just waiting to be disrupted by companies that focus only on Internet radio.

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