Mobile Internet radio listeners prefer free streaming radio services by a wide margin, according to a new report from Myxer.

Mxyer?s latest BoomBox Report on Internet radio surveyed 1,188 Myxer mobile users and found that 78 percent only listen to free streaming radio services. The report also found that 36 percent regularly listen to more than one Internet radio service.

?The big news is that it is really clear that the demand in radio is for free Internet radio,? said Myk Willis, founder and CEO of Myxer, Deerfield Beach, FL.

?This tells marketers that there is a huge group of people who are actually interested in ad-supported Internet radio because when you say free radio, the assumption is that it is ad-supported,? he said.

?This means advertisers have an opportunity to reach consumers who expect to see ads in that environment and are open to their message.?

Music is social
Other key findings include that 63 percent said free music is the most important feature for an Internet radio service11 percent said they paid for a Pandora subscription and 6 percent said they paid for Rhapsody.

Of the group that regularly listens to more than one Internet radio service, 26 percent said they listen regularly to between two and five services, while 10 percent listen to more than five different Internet radio services on a regular basis.

?I think the biggest surprise from the results was that 36 percent of people regularly listen to more than one Internet radio site,? Mr. Willis said. ?We tend to think people are Pandora users or Spotify users but the reality is that people are using different concepts ? this is significant.?

The report?s results also shows an interest from consumers in having more social network integration and social features available concurrent with listening to music via mobile, with 78 percent of respondents saying they would chat with friends while listening if they could.

Additionally, 32 percent said being able to send a song or dedication to a friend was the social feature they want in an Internet service, 22 percent chose posting to Facebook or Twitter what they are listening to and 21 percent preferred listening to music with their friends.

Last week Myxer introduced its own upcoming streaming music service, Myxer Social Radio, taking the company beyond free mobile content into free streaming entertainment.

The service will be as apps for iPhone and Android as well as from a desktop browers. It will be integrated with Facebook, letting users listen to music in real-time together with Facebook friends. 

?The demand for social goes back to the fact that music is inherently a social activity,? Mr. Willis said.

?The first generation of digital music services kind of locked people into a personal listening experience,? he said.

?Now, we finally have in the digital domain the technology and the environment that allows us to deliver social services.?

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York