SCA reports radio streaming audience jump of 58%

Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) has reported a year-on-year jump of 58% in its unique listeners across Hit, Triple M and SoundCloud Radio.

Unique listeners were up to 1.5 million in September 2020, compared to the same month in 2019, according to Adswizz Audiometrix data.

The company also reported total listening hours for the month were up 31% year-on-year to a record high of 10.5 million, while smart speaker listening hours were up 66%, accounting for 2.29 million of those hours.

Smart speaker listening had an average session duration of two hours and 26 minutes, SCA said.

Active radio streams were up to 9.1 million, a jump of 27%, and SoundCloud’s audience was said to be up 18%.

SCA said when Hit, Triple M and SoundCloud Radio were combined with SoundCloud’s music streaming platform of 2.5 million monthly listeners, “SCA has a market-leading advertising offer”.

SCA’s chief sales officer, Brian Gallagher, urged advertisers to take advantage of the upward trajectory.

“SCA is focused on providing our listeners the opportunity to engage with our products whether in home, at the office or on the daily commute where device flexibility enables listening to reach new levels of engagement each month,” he said.

“We urge advertisers to take advantage of this rapid listener behaviour shift and the growing popularity of radio products in the connected home. We expect this growth to continue as Australian homes around the country are embarking on a ‘connected makeover’ journey.”

SCA recently launched two attribution products ‘Footsteps’ and ‘Soundcheck’ in a bid to further prove the power of digital audio and advertising on the platform.

Gallagher added that this further elevated SCA’s offering.

“Our digital audio listening and live radio streaming is the fastest growing ad platform in the market right now and continues to break listening records and record extraordinary growth, demonstrating the strength of digital audio. As a growing and addressable channel with a loyal and engaged audience, now is the time to tap into this exceptionally effective channel,” he said.

“SCA audiences are tuning in for longer listening sessions driven by daytime listening on smart speakers and desktop, creating more instream ad opportunities for advertisers to reach consumers with a high-quality ad experience. Our new digital audio attribution products, SCA Footsteps and SCA Soundcheck help complete the consumer journey and prove the ROI of this burgeoning channel.”