One of the main takeaways for media buyers from Edison Research’s most recent “Share of Ear” study is what happens to reach when audio buys exclude AM/FM radio.
“If you have a media plan [with] streaming music and podcasts, can you check the box on audio, are you good to go? Not so fast,” Cumulus Media/Westwood One Audio Active Group Chief Insights Officer Pierre Bouvard says, referencing the Westwood One blog’s analysis of Edison’s Q1 2024 “Share of Ear.”
The long-running study based on one-day diaries of all tuning minutes from 4,000 Americans age 13+, measuring all audio sources, shows right up top that AM/FM radio’s 63% daily reach more than doubles that of digital audio (31%), including podcasts and ad-supported Spotify and Pandora. A closer look at each of these audio platforms’ typical-day contribution to daily reach shows that ad-supported Spotify and Pandora net just 13% of Americans, which moves to 31% when adding podcasts, and to 75% after adding AM/FM radio (76% after adding ad-supported SiriusXM).
“To really get scale in the media plan, you need AM/FM radio,” Bouvard says. “The two biggest ad-supported music streaming services miss about 87% of Americans in a typical day. When you bring in podcasts, you definitely jump the reach up significantly, [and then] the combination of digital audio and AM/FM radio reaches three-quarters of Americans in a typical day.”
Edison’s look at audience duplication shows that 59% of Americans listen only to AM/FM radio and not digital audio, vs. 28% listening to AM/FM and digital, and 13% only to digital audio. When focusing on AM/FM and ad-supported Spotify and Pandora, 92% and 90% listen to only AM/FM and not Spotify or Pandora, respectively. In either case, the blog notes that a base audio buy of AM/FM reaches 64% or 58% of Spotify’s or Pandora’s respective audience.
“If your buy only has digital audio, you’re missing most of America,” Bouvard says, “but on the flip side, if your base buy is AM/FM radio, not only are you reaching this huge exclusive audience that you’d never get on digital audio, but you also get a big chunk of the digital audio audience, because what looks like about two thirds of that digital audio audience, you’re also getting on AM/FM radio.”
“Share of Ear’s” breakdowns of a typical hour of audio use makes an even stronger case for AM/FM radio, which accounts for 40.9 minutes of listening overall and 51.5 in the car. On a share basis, that’s 68% and 86%, respectively.
“The vast majority of time spent in America, first and foremost, [is with] AM/FM radio,” Bouvard says. “If you care about the path to purchase as a retailer, and you want to reach folks that are shopping [when] they’re out and about, AM/FM is the dominant platform to reach the American consumer.”
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