MeasureCast announced that it has secured $3 million in phase one of its second round of financing, led by Seattle-based FBR CoMotion Venture Capital. The company, which offers next-day audience measurement reporting and provides the radio industry with weekly charts and the MeasureCast Internet Radio Index, plans to use the cash for product and business development, customer support, as well as sales and marketing efforts.
MeasureCast raised $3.5 million in its first round of funding in April 2000 from FBR CoMotion and individual investors.
“This latest cash infusion is further proof that the MeasureCast Streaming Audience Measurement Service, and its underlying technology, is on track to become the streaming broadcast audience measurement standard,” said MeasureCast CEO Ed Hardy. “Credible third-party audience measurement is a must for Internet radio and the rest of the streaming media industry as it gives advertisers and ad agencies the information and the confidence to make critical on-line buying decisions. David Billstrom and FBR CoMotion have been great investment partners, and we are excited about their further participation in MeasureCast.”
“MeasureCast has developed a powerful audience measurement tool that is tailored for Internet radio,” said David Billstrom, founder and managing partner of FBR CoMotion Venture Capital. “They are providing the streaming media industry with a valuable and much-needed service. We support MeasureCast because of its unique technology, its industry leadership and success to date, and the promise of an even more successful future.”
MeasueCast launched in August 2000, and has contracts with companies representing about 2,000 stations, roughly 70 percent of which are terrestrial. MeasureCast and Arbitron are the only two companies providing metrics on Internet listenership. Arbitron was recently listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and trading on the big board began on April 2nd. Arbitron monitors an estimated 2,300 stations and online only webcasters.