U-K Radio: Listening Surges Among Those WFH

New research commissioned by England's Radiocentre shows that almost 8M adults working from home listen to commercial radio every day to help accompany their working day.

Radio Today reports the research, by DRG, also shows how those working from home have saved money in the last year, have big spending plans and will seek to continue working from home once the restrictions are lifted.

This new Radiocentre research New Ways of Working, New Ways of Connecting, is the industry body’s fifth listener study since the pandemic started and explores how commercial radio can help advertisers connect to 56% of the total full time working from home audience.

The research, which was in field in February, looked at the financial status of the working from home audience, as well as their shopping habits and spending intentions. It discovered all those now working from home full-time are predominately (83%) aged between 25 and 54.

50% of the commercial radio listeners who are working from home full-time are listening for longer than pre-pandemic, and this has increased from 45% since the first lockdown in March 2020, suggesting new listening habits were established at the very start of the pandemic and that these have become entrenched.

This audience relies on radio to lift their mood, stay up to date with news and keep them company while they go about their work. With nine out of ten (89%) of the working from home commercial radio audience specifying that they listening to more now because they can have the radio on while they do their work, the findings suggest that commercial radio is giving advertisers access to this high value audience during the working day at times where they may have been unlikely to have been listening pre-pandemic. This working from home audience is receptive to advertising, with 52% of them admitting that they search for something when they have heard it advertised on the radio.

Lucy Barrett, Client Director at Radiocentre, said: “Radio helps listeners stay connected which is especially important during lockdown. What is particularly interesting about this research is that it explores the ways working from home audiences have adapted, continuing to spend during lockdown and their plans for big ticket purchases once restrictions are lifted.

“Now we have an impressive vaccine rollout and people are getting closer to returning to offices, it’s also interesting that this audience is keen to retain some form of working from home in the future and radio will always be there to keep them company.”