Infinite Dial 2020 shows Australian radio remains strong

The Infinite Dial Australia 2020 study shows 82% of Australians aged 12 and over listened to radio over the air, online or via catch-up podcasts in the last week.

The results, released today by Edison Research, are steady with last year’s 83% figure. 12% of the population listened to radio online in the last week, up from 10% a year ago.

Commercial Radio Australia chief executive officer Joan Warner said Australian radio was leading the way compared to other countries where the Infinite Dial study was conducted.

“Australian radio continues to perform strongly, with 82% of people listening weekly. This compares to 65% in the US, 69% in Canada and 62% in Germany,” she said.

Podcast listening continued to grow steadily, with 17% listening to a podcast in the last week, up from 15% in 2019 and 13% in 2018.

Weekly podcast listeners consumed about six shows per week on average.

Smartphones and tablets were the devices used most often to listen to podcasts, with 85% listening this way, versus 11% using a computer.

Smart speaker ownership also continued to grow steadily, with 17% of survey respondents owning at least one, up from 13% a year ago. Google Home is the most popular brand.

In the car, 33% had listened to online audio streaming services, 32% had listened to a CD player, 19% had listened to owned digital music and 14% had listened to a podcast.

The Infinite Dial Australia is a comprehensive study of digital media behaviour and has been running since 2017 and commissioned by CRA, Southern Cross Austereo and Triton Digital.

The research was conducted in the first quarter of 2020 via a national telephone survey of 1,014 people aged 12 and older, with data weighted to national 12+ population figures.