Bridge Ratings says traditional and satellite radio will take a significant hit in listening about a decade after WiFi and WiMax technologies are available in-car.
Bridge Ratings surveyed consumers and device manufacturers and projects that WiFi in-car should reach more than 50 percent of the U.S. population after nine years of market availability.

According to Bridge, of the estimated 30 million users of wireless access technology in the U.S., 75 percent (23 million) have wireless-accessed Internet radio. In fact, 48 percent of those accessing the Internet via wireless technology seek out Internet radio. The number of Internet radio listeners accessing wirelessly will grow to 77 million by 2010 as wireless technology penetrates the U.S. lifestyle. The gating factor may be how quickly auto manufacturers are able to equip new cars. By the fifth year of in-car WiFi acceptance, traditional radio can expect to see the amount of time spent listening to fall below 19 hours a week; by year eight, when Bridge projects that more than 23 percent of the public will have adopted wireless Internet technology in-car, weekly time spent listening to traditional radio will fall below 18 hours per week.

By the ninth year of market availability the combination of natural market growth (1-2 percent per year) and a more effective effort at selling its Internet radio channels, traditional radio revenues could reach over $26 billion.

This can’t be good news for the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB), with nearly 7,000 members including close to 6,000 stations in the U.S., and over 1,000 associate members in networks, representative firms, sales, and international organizations. Their figures indicate a combined local and national annual radio advertising revenue around $10 billion for the first half of 2007.