While music streaming may rival radio listening for three of the four key generational groups studied in consumer research firm Attest's U.S. media consumption report for 2021, radio comes up strong among the three older segments, with GenX showing the strongest affinity with radio. For all groups except GenZ, 35-41% listen daily and 61-65% frequently, as in either daily or several times a week.
The exact counts from Attest's results look like this: GenZ 19% daily, 24% several times weekly, total frequent listening 43%; Millennials 36% /25%/61%; GenX 41%/24%/65%; and Boomers 35%/30%/65%. Not surprisingly, frequent music streaming is highest among GenZ (77%) and Millennials (68%), where it surpasses radio, while radio remains ahead among GenX and Boomers, with 50% and 29% streaming frequently.
Of the four groups, GenXers are most likely to be daily radio listeners, with three of four listening at least once a week. That puts radio ahead of streaming music, where six in ten do so at least once weekly. As for podcasts, one in four GenXers report listening at least once a week.
While Millennials listen to the radio more, and stream less, than Gen Z, they're ahead of the game when it comes to podcasts, according to Attest: 15% listen daily and 45% at least once a week. For GenZ, nearly four in ten listen to podcasts at least once weekly, and a third say they never listen, compared to 15% saying they don't listen to radio. Boomers, meantime, show the largest percentage of never-streamers (40%) and never-podcasters (60%).