Another Sign of Normal
We keep looking for signs of things being back to normal after the COVID pandemic…which, hard to believe, started nearly four years ago.
Here’s another sign…radio listenership in automobiles is back to where it was at this time four years ago.
In the four years before the COVID-19 outbreak, in-car listening represented 49% of all AM/FM radio consumption among persons 25-54, a key demographic for advertisers. Now, after dropping to as low as 41% in the fourth quarter of 2021, the latest data shows half of all broadcast radio listening took place in a vehicle. That third quarter data is a nine-point increase from this time, fourth quarter, of 2022…so again, a nine-point increase in less than a year.
The information comes from the Share Of Ear dataset prepared by Edison Research.
At the same time, the latest data shows that for all ad-supported audio, the proportion of at-home listening remains elevated as opposed to the past; that’s because working from home continues. During COVID, lots of folks worked from home all the time. Now, many are in a hybrid model…which means listening in the car is back, but listening at home—the new workplace—remains elevated.
And this may not be surprising given our troubled times, but back in 2016, 26% of all ad-supported audio time among listeners 25-54 years of age was devoted to spoken word and 74% to music. Big jump for spoken word audio since then; today, the proportion of spoken word has jumped to 39%–a 50% increase in seven years–and music now represents 61% of ad-supported audio time spent, as opposed to 74%.
So, listening to the radio in the car is back up to where it was pre-COVID…and listening to spoken word as opposed to music has taken a big jump as part of it.
Regardless of where or how you’re hearing this…we’re glad you’re there, and we’ll do our best to make it worth your time.
