The latest quarterly (Q3 2024) wave of Edison Research's “Share of Ear” study – which for the past decade has surveyed 4,000 Americans annually to measure daily reach and time spent with all forms of audio – tells a powerful story for both ad-supported AM/FM radio and podcasts, as broken down in an analysis in Westwood One's weekly blog.
“Among major demographics, AM/FM radio is the dominant ad-supported audio platform, [and] podcasts have significant shares among younger age groups,” Cumulus Media/Westwood One Audio Active Group Chief Insights Officer Pierre Bouvard says, “[while] shares of Spotify, Pandora, and SiriusXM are [comparatively] small.”
Indeed, across major demos, AM/FM radio leads all ad-supported platforms, with shares are high as 69% for persons 18+ and 79% for 50+, while podcasts’ shares hit 32% for persons 18-34 and 26% for 18-49s. For African American demos, AM/FM’s shares are higher across the board, and podcasts still finish second, with an especially strong share among 18-34s.
Among Hispanics, AM/FM’s still the first choice among all but one demo, 18-34, where podcasts are the top ad-supported audio platform, and its other key demo shares are higher than those for the general market. Compared to seven years ago, podcasts’ share among Hispanics 18-34 has quadrupled, from 12% to 48%, while ad-supported Pandora’s share has tumbled from 15% to 3%.
When it comes to in-car listening, AM/FM radio rules the road with 81%-or-higher shares across all demos, even 18-34, and had ruled consistently at that level since pre-pandemic 2019. “AM/FM’s massive in-car shares have been in the mid to upper 80s over the last six years,” Bouvard says. “To reach Americans on the path to purchase, all roads lead to AM/FM radio.”
At home, meanwhile, AM/FM accounts for half (50%) of smart speaker listening, with podcasts at 20%.
Edison’s survey also shows that while most of AM/FM radio listening is still over-the-air, streaming’s share is up 63% since 2017, from 8% to 13%. As Bouvard points out in the blog, streaming music’s audience growth has come at the expense of owned music as opposed to AM/FM radio, with streaming music’s share up from 50% to 76%, and owned music listening down from 50% to 24%, since 2017. “Over the last eight years, time spent with owned music (purchased iTunes downloads, CDs, albums) have shifted to ‘rented music,’ a.k.a. streaming subscriptions,” he says.
To help understand why ad-supported platforms such as Spotify have not made significant gains with listeners over the years, it comes down to a simple point, Bouvard says: “Three quarters of Spotify’s audience is not available to advertisers, as the majority of time spent is to the ad-free subscription service. While Spotify’s ad-free subscription audience soars, it’s ad-supported shares stagnate at a two share.”