Radio 360 Survey 3 shows radio listening and streaming still growing

GfK survey 3 used Commercial Radio and Audio’s Radio 360, the industry’s new audience measurement system, which delivered for the first time the total, broadcast and streaming audience figures for each radio station in each of the five major metro markets.

The new look Summary Report includes Total Radio for Market Share %, Cumulative Audience (000s) & Average Audience (000s). By radio type for Total Radio, AM/FM/DAB+ & Streaming for Market Share % & Cumulative Audience (000s) as well as an explanation on how to read radio type.

Yesterday on ABC Radio Sydney’s Drive, Richard Glover spoke with the Media Measurement Director at GfK, Deb Hishon, about the new system and how people are listening.

Explaining the methodology for recording people’s listening habits, Hishon said,

“The new system still uses the surveys as it’s core metric, but we’re now integrating data from additional sources… Actual radio streaming data straight from the radio stations which we’re also calibrating with our wearable media watch.

The real, actual data from the stations is just the streaming data; we know there are people still listening on broadcast… the wearable, the electronic meter, relies on human compliance, but also doesn’t capture headphone listening… so, we needed to find a system that all encompasses radio listening. Using multiple sources of data gives us the ability to do that.”

As to whether people are still listening to radio, Hishon said,

 “Still predominantly broadcast. Streaming is growing though. We’re looking at around 27% of the population are using streaming to listen. This equates to around 3.8 million people across the metro markets.

“14 million people across the country are listening to radio in an average week. 12.2 million of them are listening to commercial radio and just shy of five million are listening to the ABC. So people are definitely still listening.”

CRA says Radio 360 shows 82.3% of all Australians 10+ are listening to commercial radio each week, with one in four of those using streaming services.

Listener numbers were up in all day parts, with time spent listening also up 47 minutes year on year.

Ford Ennals, the chief executive officer of CRA said,

“Radio 360 is a new, hybrid measurement system that shines a light on the rapidly growing digital audio streaming audience.”

“Commercial radio audiences have never been stronger and the options for people to engage with radio is ever increasing. In GfK’s survey 3, Radio 360 has revealed who is streaming and where they are listening. And the data, from multiple data sources, is robust, accountable and independently audited.”

“Young Australians are the heart of radio’s growth and are listening to radio more than ever before. The number of listeners aged 10 to 24 was up 6% year on year to 2.8 million people, with one in three streaming each week.”

People stream commercial radio from home more than double any other location. Almost a third of commercial DAB+ station listeners listened via streaming. Commercial DAB+ station listening  was also up 20% year on year, with 2.7 million weekly listeners.

CRA has also created a new dynamic Radio 360 Dashboard which provides an in-depth look at survey results.

 

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