Radio Show: Radio Sharing TSL With More Available Options

AM/FM Radio remains the top audio source in the car by far, However, it is sharing more time with other sources, according to Edison Research President Larry Rosin.

Rosin presented the latest findings during “Miles Different: In-Car Audio 2018” at the Radio Show in Orlando on Thursday.

His Top 10 Takeaways from Miles Different: In-Car Audio 2018:

• The car is as important as ever.
• The car is the top location for audio listening.
• Broadcast radio remains the king of in-car audio.
• Consumers have many more options for audio in cars.
• When people have more options they use more options.
• Drivers of the newest cars are…miles different.
• The agent of change is SiriusXM.
• Traffic reports as we know them are doomed.
• Streaming not yet a big factor, but…
• We are just at the dawn of change.

More than half of all Americans (54%) and more than three fourths (77%) of in-car audio consumers use AM/FM radio in their car in a typical day. “People want and expect a radio in their cars because they use a radio in their cars,” Edison president Larry Rosin stressed.

In addition to its broad in-car reach, radio captures two thirds (67%) of total time spent listening in the automobile. No one else comes close. Sirius/XM is second at 17% and owned music comes in third. Audio streaming has yet to penetrate the car to any significant degree: Only 7% of in-car audio consumers use streaming audio in the car on a typical day.

Consumers obviously have more audio options today than ever before. Although that has not changed AM/FM’s reach in the car, it is impacting time spent listening, especially among consumers with newer cars where those newer options are present.

“When people have more options, they use more options,” Rosin told attendees. The biggest gainer has been the cellphone/MP3 player.

The findings also indicated the model year of the car also has an impact on how much time people spend with AM/FM radio. For instance, 57% of people with pre-2006 model year vehicles say they use AM/FM almost all or most of the time in the car and 23% some of the time. But on car model years 2015-2018, almost all/most slips to 43% and sometimes rises to 28%.

Radio still has the dominant share of ear regardless of the model year of the car, but its share goes down as people purchase newer vehicles.

Apart from radio’s in-car dominance, one of the headlines from the new Edison Research study is the growth of satellite radio, with 15% of drivers saying they currently use it in their primary car. “The agent of change in the car is SiriusXM,” Rosin said. The newer the car, the more likely they are to subscribe to it. Two factors are driving this trend: Newer cars are more likely to have satellite radio and people that buy new cars are more likely to be aged 35-54, which Rosin called Sirius XM’s sweet spot.