Streaming is now more than an ancillary segment of the radio industry. "Who's leading?" arouses curiousty each time Ando Media releases its Webcast Metrics report. It's no different this time.

There's a strange comparison making the rounds, though, placing the numbers from Pandora against those of the bigger radio industry players. The latest reports show Pandora literally taking off while Clear Channel and CBS are still on the runway. Placing the aggregated Katz Online Network on the graph doesn't do much to elevate broadcast radio's position in streaming either.

"Worth is considerably higher when you identify the type of person who's receiving an ad."

Compare the three graphs below with the one above, keeping in mind that the one above represents 10 times the audience numbers that the first one below does. Also realize that many big players are not represented in Ando Webcast Metrics - so the volume of ad inventory really is much larger than what is pictured here.

To place Pandora's numbers against the combination of Katz, CBS, and Clear Channel is a disconnect on a number of levels, the first being that the radio industry companies all have megaphones called broadcast signals that drive people to their web sites. Pandora lacks this, but makes up for it in building member loyalty through relationships. Word of mouth carries it.

Back to the question, though: How is it that Pandora alone is being positioned as a major radio competitor? To keep such a narrow focus leaves you open for surprise when realizing the numbers of people who choose to use lesser-known sites. The internet's long-tail is the real competition.

For those who want to place that 93% reach of radio against Pandora's 80 million registered people and argue that Pandora is only a sliver of the radio industry's reach, there's something I've not seen addressed. Within Pandora, the number of people reached doesn't matter as strongly as how much data the company has on each. Why do you think Facebook has such a high valuation? 500 million users are trumped by how it uses data for advertisers.

Worth is considerably higher when you identify the type of person who's receiving an ad.

It almost forces a grin when I hear radio industry faithful saying there's not much to fear from streaming. That view is akin to the carriage salesmen around the introduction of automobiles - not ready to admit the future is questionable, constantly falling back on age-old rhetoric and condemnation of pundits.

Comparing Pandora to the radio industry at large is foolish. It is not the lone wolf about to eat radio's lunch. Those thousands of online stations that provide data to advertisers who foot the bill are what need to be worried about most. They don't appear on your monthly Ando Webcast Metrics.

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