Radio - the audio source we listen to most

By James Cridland for media.info
Posted 6 October 2016, 10.18pm edt

Radio is the most-popular thing to listen to, according to figures in the UK, the US, and now Australia, where the industry body Commercial Radio Australia has released new figures.

In each country, radio accounts for over 50% of all audio consumed, according to research released this year.

In the US, figures released by Edison Research's Share of Ear study from March 2016 [slide 35] say that live radio (a figure that includes AM/FM, online simulcasts and SiriusXM) accounts for 61% of all time spent listening to audio sources. The US research shows streaming audio at 15%, and podcasting at 2%.

In the UK, RAJAR's MIDAS Summer 2016 study claims live radio (including AM/FM/DAB and online simulcasts) accounts for 75% of all time spent listening. Streaming audio is 6%, and podcasting is 2%. Unlike others, the UK's figures do not include streaming music video.

And in Australia, according to new research released this morning by Commercial Radio Australia, live radio (including AM/FM/DAB and online simulcasts) accounts for 65% of all time spent listening. Streaming audio is 9.2%, and podcasting is 3.5%.

Australia's streaming audio figure is made-up of Pandora, Spotify and Apple Music; it's currently the only territory outside the US where Pandora is active.

Also in the Australian data - 0.9% of all live radio listening is to non-Australian radio; an interesting statistic that highlights that while the internet may offer access to many radio stations from across the world, most radio listening is to services from a listener's own country.

Do you know of any other 'share of audio' research? Please add them to the comments; it would be good to compare with more countries.