A new insight from Edison Research might come as a surprise to some: News audio is by far radio’s strongest suit, and sports isn’t far behind.
Just under 70% of all daily time spent listening to news audio happens on AM/FM radio, Edison says, followed by sports at 61%. That means the majority of news and sports audio in the U.S. is consumed via AM/FM radio.
Edison says that when a respondent to its Share of Ear survey records the audio they consume, they also reveal the kind of content they’re listening to, including news, sports (talk or play-by-play), talk/personalities, or music.
The graph below details the share of all listening across different content types via AM/FM radio and radio streams — with radio’s share substantially different across the four kinds of content.
While the majority of U.S. news and sports audio consumption is via AM/FM radio, AM/FM also takes a solid — but considerably lower portion — of talk/personalities and music. Podcasting now leads in the talk category, and music fans today have numerous options for consumption.