Bad news for sports radio ...

From OnlineMediaDaily:

Sorry, SportsCenter -- Consumers now consider the Web to be their primary source for sports news and information, according to new research from ad network Burst Media.

For both men and women -- 36.1% and 32.7%, respectively -- the Web is the go-to for sports news, which is followed by local TV programming -- 23.7% -- national TV networks -- 15.1% -- local newspapers -- 6.7% -- national newspapers -- 3.6% -- and sports radio -- 2.9%.

What's more, among the key age segments of 18-24 years and 25-34 years, the Internet far outweighs both local and national TV coverage as the primary source of sports news and information, according to a survey administered earlier this month to over 2,200 adults 18 years and older. Not surprisingly, adults 55 years and over still turn to local TV news over the Internet.

Among all respondents, sports content is in demand regardless of which media is cited as their primary source.

Nearly one-half -- 49.2% -- of respondents use the Internet to check sports scores, and 41.3% read sports-related news stories online.

"It's abundantly clear that men and women of all ages are active consumers of sports content online," said Chuck Moran, chief marketing officer for Burst. "This provides marketers an opportunity to expand the reach of their campaigns targeted to sports enthusiasts by adding an online component."

Notably, nearly as many women as men use the Internet to check sports scores -- 47.3% vs. 50.5% -- read sports stories -- 39% vs. 42.8% -- and visit professional team sports sites -- 25.2% vs. 26.2%.

Yet despite all of the hype over online video services, today over one-half -- 55% -- of all respondents indicated that they have never watched live streaming game coverage on the Internet.

Added Moran: "By utilizing a multichannel strategy of combining Internet and TV, advertisers can surround their target audience with coordinated messaging for greater impact."

Also of note for Web content providers, the survey found that while the Internet is the most popular media source for sports content, it is not perceived as the best source.

Overall, national TV sports networks, such as ESPN, are viewed by respondents as the best place to get sports information and news.

However, men believe national TV sports networks and Internet sports content sites deliver equivalent sports content -- 30.1% and 28.7% of men, respectively.