Edison Study Reveals AM/FM Radio's Huge Lead Over Ad-Supported Spotify.

How strong is AM/FM radio compared to ad-supported Spotify? The actual numbers from Edison Research’s Q2 2026 “Share of Ear” report differ significantly from advertisers’ estimates.

According to an analysis in Westwood One’s blog, Edison’s most recent quarterly measure of time spent with all forms of audio shows AM/FM with a 62% share of ad-supported audio time spent among persons 18+, vs. ad-supported Spotify’s 6%. 

Meanwhile, based on results of Advertiser Perceptions’ most recent survey of more than 300 media agencies and marketers, the perceived audience shares for AM/FM radio and ad-supported Spotify are neck-and-neck: 26% for the former, and 25% for the latter. Add a perceived 16% share for ad-supported Pandora (vs. Edison’s 5%) and the advertisers’ estimate of a 41% combined audience share for ad-supported Spotify and Pandora together, vs. AM/FM’s 26%, are even more out of whack with the reality.

While agencies may think most Spotify listening is to the ad-supported service, this is also not the case according to “Share of Ear,” which shows that 78% of listening is to ad-free vs. 22% to ad-supported. A comparison to Q2 2017 reveals a sharp decline in ad-supported share of Spotify listening, from 53% to the current 22%.

Edison’s reality check also shows that Spotify’s ad-supported audience skews toward lower-income households, with AM/FM radio’s share 16 times greater than Spotify among those with a $100k+ income. Additionally, compared to total U.S., 59% of ad-supported Spotify’s audience has an income of less than $50,000, vs. 29% of the total U.S. market, while just 15% of ad-supported Spotify’s impressions have $100,000+ income, vs. 35%.

A comparison between ad-supported to ad-free Spotify shows similar results: 59% of Spotify’s ad-supported audience has less than a $50,000 income, vs. only 28% of ad-free; 59% of the ad-free audience has at least four years of college, vs. 47% of ad-supported; and 57% of ad-free listeners have a full-time job, vs. 40% of ad-supported.

“Marketers and media agencies perceive Spotify’s ad-supported music streaming audience as upscale and large. It’s neither,” Cumulus Media/Westwood One Audio Active Group Chief Insights Officer Pierre Bouvard says. “Marketers and agency decision makers who subscribe to Spotify’s ad-free service mistakenly think Spotify’s ad-supported audience is like them, upscale with jobs and college education. The socio-economic profile of Spotify’s ad-free subscription service and the ad-supported free service is completely different.”

Most advertisers might be surprised to learn that, according to Edison, 89% of people listen only to AM/FM radio and never to ad-supported Spotify during a typical day, while just 6% listen to ad-supported Spotify and not AM/FM, and 6% listen to both.

Marketers should take note of AM/FM radio’s importance in boosting the daily reach of any media plan among persons 18+. Edison finds that in a typical day, only a third (32%) of the U.S. is reached by digital audio – including Spotify, Pandora and podcasts – while adding AM/FM radio brings that reach up to 74%.

Citing points of view from those taking a closer look at radio, the blog suggests that agencies tend to downplay AM/FM radio’s continued listenership based on their perception of the popularity of newer media vs. old, and on their own listening habits. “People think that nobody listens to radio anymore because there is a narrative that new media kills old media, so nobody bothers to look at evidence that doesn’t fit the narrative,” Deloitte Director of Research, Technology, Media & Telecommunications Duncan Stewart says, while former Havas Media CEO Collin Kinsella adds, “The biggest risk for radio is the 26-year media planner who lives in New York or Chicago and does not commute by car and does not listen to radio and thus does not think anyone else listens to radio.”