A new study from MediaSpan shows that radio listeners are increasingly heading to their favorite stations' Web sites for streaming radio and podcasts. Their survey found that half of the nearly 35,000 Web users surveyed went online at least monthly to listen to streaming stations, with 11 percent downloading podcasts. Talk radio fans are the most active podcast listeners, with Sports Talk and News/Talk listeners most commonly downloading podcasts.

"Clearly, broadcasters who offer integrated online programming via innovative features such as podcasting and streaming will meet audience demands and strengthen their relationship with their audiences," says MediaSpan CMO Mark Zagorski. "By providing these services in a local environment, stations can compete online with the large streaming portals that have been challenging them for listener mindshare."

Other findings from MediaSpan's survey included: younger targeted formats doing well in podcasting, such as CHR/Top 40 and iTunes being the most popular digital music store, over twice as popular as Napster. Music downloaders were unsurprisingly younger and fans of Alt Rock and/or Hip-Hop.

While podcasting is gaining interest, listening to stations streaming online remained far more popular among those surveyed. Once again, fans of Alt Rock and Urban stations were most likely to listen to their favorite stations online. Additionally, 69 percent of those surveyed currently have broadband internet access at home.

"There is a huge opportunity for stations and advertisers to gain consumer loyalty through streaming. Whereas overall 50% of respondents visit sites (including non-broadcast radio) to stream music and other programming, only 28% seek it on the radio station sites surveyed, either because it is not offered or the experience is poor. Nearly half (44%) said they would visit the local radio site if a quality streaming service was offered. This is a big opportunity for local stations to continue to extend their brand, and stop online erosion from streaming portals," added Zagorski.