Study: Radio Listening Remains Steady

The Temkin Group has just released a report, Media Use Benchmark, 2013. This data snapshot examines the time spent by U.S. consumers using different media sources and the changes from 2012.

In January 2013 Temkin surveyed 10,000 U.S. consumers about their media use patterns and compared the results to data that we collected in January 2012.

The analysis examines internet usage (at home and at work), reading of books and news (online and offline), TV watching, radio listening, and mobile activity. The data snapshot breaks down the data by age, ethnicity, income, and geographic region.

The first figure in the report (out of 14 total data graphics) shows the overall usage levels in the U.S. for different media activities:

Here are some interesting factoids about media usage in the U.S.:

• Ninety-eight percent of consumers go online at home, 60% do it at least three hours per day
• Fifty-seven percent of consumers use their mobile phone for going online or using an app, 16% do it at least three hours per day
• Sixty-five to 74-year-olds watch the most TV (4.2 hours per day), 18- to 24-year-olds watch the least (3.6 hours per day)
• All ages of consumers spend more time reading paper books than online books, but the gap is narrower with younger consumers
• Consumers making less than $25,000 per year watch 4.5 hours per day of TV, those making $100,000 or more watch less than 3.4 hours
• Thirty-nine percent of consumers making less than $25,000 per year use their mobile phone for going online or using an app, compared with more than 60% of those who earn $75,00 or more
• The hours that consumers spend watching TV goes down with increasing educational levels
• Asians spend twice as much time reading online books as do Caucasians
• African-Americans watch the most TV per day
• Fifty-four precent of consumers in the South use their mobile phone for going online or using an app, compared with 49% of those in the Midwest