Insights: Streaming Listening Is Significant For Radio

For many years, the perception was that online streaming audiences to AM/FM radio were small and not worth including in the media plan. No longer. 

Using new audience data, this week’s Westwood One blog shows that AM/FM radio streaming represents a significant amount of total AM/FM radio listening and should always be a part of the media plan.

• Nielsen Portable People Meter (PPM): AM/FM radio streaming represents 10% of AM/FM radio listening among persons 12+: Before the pandemic, streaming represented 5% of AM/FM radio listening. When Nielsen introduced the new headphone adjustment methodology enhancement in October 2020, the share of listening to encoded streams jumped to 10% and has held ever since.
• Edison Research: Among adults 25-54, AM/FM radio streaming represents 14.6% of listening: For every seven minutes of AM/FM radio listening among adults 25-54, one minute occurs via the online stream, according to Edison Research’s Q1 2021 “Share of Ear” study.
• AM/FM radio is nine times bigger than Pandora and 23 times bigger than Spotify: Overall, AM/FM radio (over the air plus streams), dominates the world of ad-supported audio with a 69% share. Podcasts are a fast-growing number two, whose ad-supported shares are larger than Pandora and Spotify combined.
• Out of AM/FM radio streams, Pandora, and Spotify, AM/FM radio streaming has the largest ad-supported audience among adults 25-54, according to the “Share of Ear.”
• Jacobs Media TechSurvey predicted the rise of AM/FM radio steaming: In 2013, 85% of the listening occurred via traditional means and 14% occurred on digital platforms. In the just-released 2021 TechSurvey, the share of listening on digital platforms surged to 35% while AM/FM radio time spent via traditional platforms has dropped from 85% to 61%.
• Profile of AM/FM radio streams: Younger, female; the majority are from the home market.
• MARU/Matchbox: Streaming provides people with ability to listen to their favorite stations: When asked about their reasons for streaming AM/FM radio stations, consumers report it is a convenient way to listen to their favorite stations, especially at work.
• AM/FM radio streaming grows as people spend more time listening to AM/FM radio: MARU/Matchbox found 55% of all adults 25-54 say they have listened to an AM/FM radio stream in the past week. Among heavy AM/FM radio listeners, that jumps to 71%.
• Ideal target: “Power streamers” are highly educated and skew young: Listeners who spent over 75% of their AM/FM radio time listening to the stream over index on education and younger adult 18-34 and adult 35-54 demos.