SCA reveals podcast downloads are up 49% in lockdown

After Australian Radio Network released some fresh lockdown data this week comes the latest insights from rival Southern Cross Austereo.

SCA’s live radio streaming and audio-on-demand platforms continued to break listener and download records with more listeners, more often and on more devices.

The broadcaster said daily live radio streams had grown 21% since March 9.

Since COVID-19 restrictions began, live radio streaming across mobile, tablet, desktop/laptop and smart speakers exceeded all past records.

Daily weekday live radio streams were up 21% and weekday listening hours increased by 19%.

Smart speaker live radio streaming was up 28.8%, hitting a peak of two million listening hours in April and 21% of all SCA live radio streaming occurs on a smart speaker.

“We expected this listening behaviour to continue and have again broken previous all-time listening records,” said SCA’s chief sales officer, Brian Gallagher.

“Audio has proven to be a key companion choice as people work from home to stay updated, informed and entertained.”

Live radio streaming on mobiles and tablets were up 8.3% and on desktops and laptops up 28.2%.

Podcasting downloads on its PodcastOne Australia network were up 49% from February to April, with catch up radio podcasts seeing a 16% increase in downloads since 12 April.

Australian listeners on SoundCloud were up by 43% since February and total listening hours on desktop up 30% month on month.

Last month’s ANZAC Day live Commemorative Service, broadcast on 98 stations, recorded record live streaming audiences with 480,000 active streams and 270,000 listening hours.