53% of online Americans aged 12 and up listen to online radio, including personalized radio (39%), live streaming (27%) and on-demand music (18%) services, per a new study from the Streaming Audio Task Force (comprised of Pandora, Spotify and TuneIn) conducted by Edison Research. The results indicate that the vast majority of this audience is spending the same (27%) or more (67%) time listening to internet radio than last year. In fact, late last year, a study from Edison Research and Arbitron found that among weekly users, online radio trounces online video in consumption.
Some of online radio’s growth may be cannibalizing AM/FM consumption, according to the latest Edison Research report: among those listening to online radio, 44% say the time they spend listening is replacing AM/FM. Still, 26% say the time they’re spending with online radio is new time.
Overall, radio’s weekly reach continues to grow, per recent figures from Arbitron.
Other Findings:
- Online radio is the third-most common way that people discover new music, per the Edison Research study. Prior research suggests that FM radio is the primary way that radio listeners discover music.
- The top reasons given for listening to streaming live radio were: more choices (38% of listeners strongly agreeing); player revealing what’s on (34%); and a clearer signal (33%). Among personalized radio and on-demand music listeners, 50% strongly agree that the ability to skip songs is a reason for listening, with many also citing wider selection and the ability to create radio stations.
- Those who listen to online radio most often do so on a computer (78%), though 7 in 10 do so on a smartphone (70%). More than one-quarter listen on a tablet (45%), car dashboard (33%) and connected TV (30%).
- Roughly 1 in 5 online radio listeners come from households with income of more than $100k (compared to 13% of AM/FM radio-only listeners).
About the Data: The data is derived from a survey of more than 3,000 online Americans.
