Republicans Favor Radio; Independents Spend More Time With Podcasts.

With Election Day approaching, new research from Edison Research at SSRS offers political campaigns another factor to consider as they decide where to spend their advertising dollars. While AM/FM leads in reach across the board, the findings show Republicans devote considerably more of their daily audio time to radio than Democrats or Independents, while Independents spend a larger share of their audio time with podcasts. The differences could have implications for how campaigns divide their advertising budgets as they seek to reach audiences across the political spectrum.

The findings, based on Edison's Share of Ear data for the third quarter, show AM/FM radio remains the leading audio platform among all three political groups. But the size of its lead varies considerably.

Republicans spend 41% of their daily audio time listening to AM/FM vs. 31% for both Democrats and Independents. The figures include listening to ad-supported radio stations over the air and through commercial free online streams, including SiriusXM. That 10-point difference highlights radio’s particularly strong position among Republicans, although there’s a solid case to be made to campaigns of all viewpoints as AM/FM remains the single largest audio category regardless of political affiliation.

Podcast listening presents a different picture. Independents devote 15% of their daily audio time to podcasts vs. 11% among Democrats and 9% among Republicans. That puts podcasting six points ahead among Independents compared with Republicans and four points ahead of Democrats.

Streaming music shows a narrower divide. Democrats devote 27% of their daily audio time to streaming services vs. 25% among Independents and 21% among Republicans.

Edison’s numbers mean that among Republicans, radio commands nearly twice the share of listening time as streaming music. Among Democrats, radio’s share is only slightly ahead of streaming music.

Edison also finds differences across other audio platforms, including some with limited advertising opportunities. YouTube music and videos account for 14% of Independents’ audio time vs. 11% for Democrats, while SiriusXM draws similar shares among Republicans (8%) and Democrats (7%). Democrats also spend slightly more time with audiobooks and owned music.

The findings arrive as candidates, political action committees and other election advertisers make decisions about how to allocate spending in the final weeks before the Nov. 3 midterms.

For radio broadcasters, the data provides another selling point in conversations with political advertisers. AM/FM remains the largest audio platform across all three political groups, with an especially large share of listening time among Republicans.

Podcast publishers can point to a different opportunity. Independents devote a greater share of their daily audio consumption to podcasts than either Democrats or Republicans, making the medium a potentially useful component of audio advertising plans aimed at reaching a broad mix of voters.

But the findings do not necessarily mean campaigns should allocate advertising dollars in the same proportions as listening time. Edison’s figures measure how people distribute their daily audio consumption, not how many voters an advertising campaign can reach. By that measure, AM/FM wins across the board.

The political listening analysis comes as Edison Research at SSRS introduces Crosstab Explorer, a new feature within its Share of Ear interactive dashboard. The tool allows subscribers to compare listening behavior by political affiliation, age, gender, ethnicity, location and daypart. Users can also examine listening patterns by audio platform, online audio service, advertising support, content type and device.