As the summer travel season winds down, a new survey shows just how much of an inroad podcasting is making in the car. A new survey by Katz Media Group shows more than a quarter (28%) of people who took at least one road trip this summer said they took podcasts along for the ride.
The survey – of 1,000 adults – shows broadcast radio remains the most-used, with three in four road trippers listening to AM/FM radio. The digital connections that helped bring podcasting listening along are also helping streaming music services. A majority (54%) of people said they listened to a pureplay service, topping owned music – used by about a third – as fewer cars have CD players in the dashboard than in the past. A third also listened to satellite radio.
For podcasters, the road trip season also was a big opportunity for co-listening. The survey data shows only one in ten road trippers took to the highway solo. Most summer road trips included family members, with spouses and partners being the most common companions in the car (59%), while 35% of adults traveled with their children, and 16% did so with their parents (16%). Twenty-one percent say they traveled with friends.
The Katz survey reveals that six in ten people (63%) took at least one road trip during the summer of 2023 with nearly all these trips involving an overnight stay. Additionally, road trippers took an average of two trips, with their longest trip lasting an average of five days and 71% of road trippers crossed state lines, while 29% kept their travels within their home states.