Radio networks have experienced a sharp rise in online competition over the past year in Australia with a 70 per cent rise in the number of consumers cutting off the home phone line and using mobile devices only.
19 percent of the Australian population were mobile-only users by the end of 2012 with almost 3.3 million people replacing their fixed-line home phone with a mobile.
And those figures are already out of date just seven months later, with many more predicted to have cut the cord in the interim period.
The new generation of phone user is much more likely to be online than to be using traditional radio or TV, with 64% saying they are using their mobile to access entertainment services.
The statistics have been released today by the Australian Communications and Media Authority, and point to a sharp and exponential increase in the mobile market.
This confirms all projections of the imminent challenge to radio networks to retain traditional listeners in a rapidly evolving environment.
And suprisingly, the number of Australians aged 65 and over who are now mobile-only users has more than doubled since December 2010.
Young Aussies remain the largest growth area, with those aged 25 to 34 twice as likely as the rest of the population to cut the cord and be exclusively mobile.
The study found that full mobile substitution users are more likely to be using the handset to go online and they are three-quarters more likely to use entertainment services as well as two-thirds more likely to use social media and online communities.
The report is the first in the ACMA’s research snapshot series, and uses data sourced from Roy Morgan Single Source, access the entire report via this link below: