Still King of the Road

Radio remains the most popular entertainment choice on the road, with Australian commuters largely overlooking the music streaming options that have been introduced into car dashboards, according to research released today.

Radio accounts for 80% of in-car listening, followed by owned music such as CDs and downloads making up 12% of listening, and three per cent of listening going to the streaming services Apple Music, Pandora and Spotify, the GfK Australian Share of Audio study found.

Joan Warner CEO of Commercial Radio Australia said “In-car technology will continue to evolve but radio still has a central place on the dashboard because it’s a core part of the driving experience and the daily commute,” she said.

Among people who listen to audio in the car, the average daily time spent listening to radio is one hour and 11 minutes versus three minutes for streaming.

The GfK research is the first major comprehensive study of the evolution of the audio landscape in Australia and examines how and where Australians consume all forms of audio in a dynamic and changing market that includes radio, streaming, podcasts and online music videos.

{youtube}CRnwGEt1pA0{/youtube}

Tony Kendall, chief executive of Australian Radio Network and chair of CRA’s Marketing and Brand Committee, said the research would dispel myths about the reach of global competitors.

“No other audio platform comes close to local radio in terms of reach and time spent listening, and that’s a message the industry is taking to advertisers and agencies,”he said.

The industry has launched an integrated on-air and trade marketing campaign to promote radio on the back of the research.  As part of this, a four-week Media i campaign has just commenced using 220 screens in more than 60 media agencies across the five metropolitan capital cities.

The campaign promotes the key findings that 65% of all audio listening is to Australian radio and the medium is the number one audio platform for all demographics.

The Australian Share of Audio research can be found here.