Australia Radio: Edison Releases The Aussie Infinite Dial

Despite the presence of a variety of audio options available to Australians, broadcast radio continues to make a strong showing, with 88% of people aged 12+ having listened to an AM/FM/DAB+ in the last week. This is one of many findings from The Infinite Dial Australia, a comprehensive study of digital media behavior in Australia, just released by Edison Research, the leading provider of high-quality survey research about audio in the U.S. and worldwide.

This marks the second annual release of the study in Australia, and the continued expansion of The Infinite Dial, the longest running survey of digital media consumer behavior in U.S. With The Infinite Dial Canada having been released earlier this year, comparisons may now be made regarding online digital audio and social media among Australia, Canada and the U.S.

The Australian Infinite Dial Study was commissioned by Commercial Radio Australia (CRA), Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) via their PodcastOne subsidiary, and Triton Digital.

“The Infinite Dial Australia study explores the usage of technology in the market, and as has been the case in the USA we believe The Infinite Dial Australia is set to become the authoritative source in the understanding of the online audio space” said Edison President Larry Rosin.

CRA chief executive officer, Joan Warner said: “It’s an exciting time for radio in Australia. Audio innovation and development across the world has provided radio with another way of reaching audiences, whether it is via a traditional AM/FM radio, on a DAB+ device, via a podcast or on a smart speaker.  Australian radio listeners interact with their radio station across, social media, on the mobile and in the car.  The Edison Study is an essential tool informing the industry on the technology habits of Australians.”

Key Australian Infinite Dial findings include:

• Radio is the leading audio platform consumed by Australians with 88% of people having listened to an AM/FM or DAB+ station in an average week, up from 85% in 2017.
• Radio is the choice for in-car listening, with 89% of people having listened to AM/FM radio in the car in the last month. Seventy percent of Australians use AM/FM radio as the audio source they use most often in-car, leading Canada (63%) and the U.S. (56%).
• Familiarity with the term “podcasting” has grown from 72% to 78% in Australia. Thirteen percent of Australians have listened to a podcast in the last week, up from 10% in 2017.  An average of five podcasts are listened to each week by those who are weekly podcast listeners. .
• Facebook usage as “the social media brand used most often” is down from 73% in 2017 to 60% in 2018, but overall social media usage by Australians is up to 82% in this study.
• Ninety percent of Australians own a Smartphone, and 96% of 25-54 year-olds own a smartphone.
• Regarding Smart Speakers, Google Home leads Amazon Alexa with a 61% awareness versus 28%. Smart speaker ownership is 5% in Australia. 
• Netflix remains the most popular on-demand video service, with 41% of Australians subscribing. In the last week in Australia 49% of people have used Netflix, Foxtel Play, Go or Now, Stan or Amazon Prime. 

The Australian Infinite Dial study was conducted in the first quarter of  2018 and uses a nationally representative survey of 1009 people, and is a random probability telephone sample, comprising both mobile phones and landlines, of all Australians aged 12 and older.