Study: Radio still has broadest reach

In 2008, the Council for Research Excellence, a research group funded primarily by Nielsen and staffed by researchers from various media and advertising organizations, studied the media consumption habits of U.S. adults. Researchers followed about 300 people around for two days, in the spring and the fall, using a handheld device to track every single 10-second interval of media that they consumed. The study was mainly focused on video, with the unsurprising result that we watch a lot of TV (more than five hours a day on average).

On Tuesday, the group released a follow-up analysis focused exclusively on audio. The results are somewhat surprising for those of us who have been steeped in digital music for the last decade: the most popular form of media for audio is good old broadcast radio.

No static at all!

(Credit: Wojciech Pysz, via Wikimedia Commons)

In fact, it's not even close. About 77 percent of U.S. adults listen to some broadcast radio on any given day--much more than listen to a CD or tape (37 percent). Satellite radio came in third with 15 percent. And the vaunted digital music revolution? About 12 percent of users listen to portable MP3 players on any given day, about 10 percent listen to digital media files stored on a computer, and only about 9 percent listen to streamed audio (including online radio). The study has tons of other data about age groups and time spent listening to each form of audio and so on, but an important point is that even digital music consumers still listen to the radio: nearly 82 percent of people who listen to MP3 players on a given day also listened to the radio. (This 38-page PDF has all the details.)

Now, the caveats. The study had a small sample size--300 people in only five cities. It didn't try to adjust for demographic differences between the sample audience and the population at large. And it didn't measure the type of audio content being consumed. So while we know that nearly 80 percent of U.S. adults listen to the radio, it's harder to know how many are listening to music. My suspicion is that people with MP3 players are turning to radio primarily for news and sports and other talk formats, and sticking primarily with their own collections for music.

[cvaldes1831]

The study's results are useless because of its sloppy methodology (three hundred people is insignificant). The demographics (especially age) should have some effect.<br /><br />I'm probably pretty typical in that I wake up to a clock radio, so yeah, for 5-10 minutes every day, I listen to the radio. Driving around, I'm usually using my MP3 player, but sometimes I listen to CDs or the radio (mostly baseball games).

[richard mitnick]

While this article says about 300 people were studied, I cannot find any figure in the attached report. If that is the accurate figure, then I would conclude that the sample was abysmally small and that the project's report is not worth even reading.<br /><br />I would love to know how may people subscribe and listen to web streams from http://live365.com, a paid service. I would like to know how many people listen to web streams from http://accuradio.com, a free ad supported service. I would like to know how many people listen to web streams from terrestrial radio.<br /><br />I do not believe that from 300 people one can draw any conclusions regarding the sources I mentioned above.<br /><br />&gt;&gt;RSM

[san_diego_guy]

300 is not abysmally small if they were randomly chosen. Obviously you have no background in statistics.<br /><br />Before you make a bigger fool of yourself, please check the sample size of most polls. I bet most are right at 1,000 people, if that. And we happily accept that sample to represent over 300 million people in the U.S.<br /><br />Generally speaking, you can estimate your margin of error by this formula 1/ square root of sample size. 500 people will give you an approximate margin of error of 4.5%. 300 people gives a margin of error of 5.8%...<br /><br />So you can see that 300 people is a very decent sample size. Just because YOU do not believe that you can draw very decent conclusion from a survey of 300 people randomly chosen doesn't necessarily mean it's true. I would suggest you take some basic math classes before spouting off in a public forum.

The research was conducted by Nielsen. Nielsen is paid by media companies to conduct the research. These media companies happen to own radio stations. You do the math.<br /><br />Wait, I think I just did it for you.<br /><br />Additionally, the important point is NOT the percentage who listen to radio, and it's not even TSL for each device. The important point is the amount of attention paid to each type of audio source. We who are or used to be in the radio industry see and hear every day news of some numbers, be they studies or ratings, that seem to prove people are still listening to radio the way they used to (and whether the studies explicitly make that "the way they used to" claim or no, that's invariably how the industry takes the results). Given faulty PPM numbers -- and they're faulty simply due to the way the thing works, we all knew these problems were coming LONG before the technology was ever deployed -- and studies that don't take into account what we in the business used to refer to as "preferred stations," or in this day and age, preferred DEVICES, it's all too easy to look at the nearly irrelevant data we DO have and say, "Hey! Look at that! People are still listening to the radio!" The reality of the situation is, people are NOT still truly LISTENING to the radio, it's merely background noise to them. Just ask them. They'll tell you flat-out it's true.<br /><br />This is just another study, funded in a round-about way by radio station owners, that's being used to justify to Wall Street and Madison Avenue the way that the media companies are running their stations. Those of us who know better can see right through it.

[MattRosoff]

The study never mentions the number of people, but says that it measured 752 "observed days," which included 2 full days for each subject. Full relevant sections (*emphasis mine*) is as follows: <br /> <br />The study was based on real-time observation of consumers *throughout an entire day*. The <br />individuals who participated in the study were drawn primarily from former Nielsen TV People <br />Meter panelists. Consumers included in the analyses presented here were sampled from five <br />geographically dispersed DMAs: Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia, and Seattle. These <br />locations provide a good mix of respondents, however, it is important to note that these data are <br />not weighted to reflect national or DMA level demographic distributions. <br /> <br />*A full waking day was observed for each of these consumers,* to simultaneously measure their <br />media exposure, their life activities and the locations, where they spent their day. Media <br />exposure that took place early in the morning or later in the evening when the observer was not <br />present were reconstructed through recall interviews with the participants. *Each consumer in the <br />final sample was observed twice*, generally the same day of the week for each person, and spread <br />across the days of the week for the sample. These consumers were observed first in Spring, 2008 <br />(generally April and May) and then again in the Fall, 2008 (generally September and October). <br />The final sample included *752 observed days*, over ¾ million minutes of observation, at 10 <br />second resolution throughout those days

[san_diego_guy]

"My suspicion is that people with MP3 players are turning to radio primarily for news and sports and other talk formats, and sticking primarily with their own collections for music."<br /><br />I think your suspicion is dead wrong.<br /><br />I'm an avid digital music &#38; media guy... over 2 terabytes of digital music in high bit rate MP3's and some FLAC. Several terabytes of movies in xvid and h.264 high res. I own several music streamers from Roku and Squeezebox as well as general purpose, networked media players (a networked DVD player, the Tvix M-5000A, the Brite-View CinemaTube). All my TV's are hooked up to one or more media players. I own 5 ipods (from the Classic to the Nano, Shuffle and ipod touch) and 2 music capable mobile phones (HTC Hero and Samsung U-600).<br /><br />And guess what? I still listen to the radio for music! You're completely wrong for several reasons... one is that my alarm clock wakes me up to a radio station that plays music. But the biggest reason of all why you're wrong is my daily commute. I spend roughly 1.5 hours a day in the car... most of that time is listening to music on the local FM stations. I occasionally channel surf to talk radio and sports shows but I would estimate that's less than 5% of my radio listening. If you're in a city with great mass transit system you may not drive... but if you do, you listen to the radio. In the car, I have my iPod hooked up and probably use it half the time... the other half is all radio.<br /><br />And that's why I think your suspicion is wrong.

[MusicChirp]

Many people with a technical background are going to dump on this survey and state that the numbers are incorrect. The reason why is they are accustomed to listening to music on their ipod and other devices instead of the radio. But, the average person is going to listen to the radio, period. With the younger generations we might see radio become less and less popular just like news papers have started to fall to the waste side. <br /><br />Again, many people who are commenting on this are in the 12 and 10 percent range. That is why some are outraged at these stats which I believe to be true.

[oldguytoo]

Radio is the most convenient of all formats.

[stephenmeyer]

FACT: Talk radio is a big part of the radio audience, and talk radio audience listens for longer periods of time. Let's see the breakout for both formats. <br /> <br />Do you know anybody that listens to radio over an hour and a half every day to hear new music? Of course not, because new music is more abundant online. High school students get home and go to their PCs, same at colleges. When was the last time you heard a young person ask for a radio or buy one for themselves? <br /> <br />Forrester Research reported in July of this year that the amount of time spent listening to radio decreased by 18% from 2004-2009, while Internet use increased 117% for the same period. (http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10297935-93.html ) One might easily assume then, that if Internet usage has increased so dramatically during the same period, there are a whole lot more people listening to media online as radio listening decreased. <br /> <br />More NEW music has been discovered online via YouTube and other sites in the last few years, than at radio. The fact that more people who download NEW music BUY new music (http://tinyurl.com/yahdjrd ) <br /> <br />And this: <br /> <br />People are tuning into the radio less and instead are spending more time logged onto the Internet and listening to music on their iPhones and iPods. It's a national phenomenon, but it's also affecting the local radio market. <br /> <br />Overall, they're listening to the radio nearly three hours less per week now than they were in 2006. In spring 2007, survey participants spent around 18 hours and 45 minutes a week listening to the radio. In spring 2009, radio listeners were only spending around 16 hours tuning in. <br /> <br />"There are more choices today," said Jack Miller, president of True Media, a media strategy and communications company. "More choices result in a dilution of consumers exposed to any one media." <br /> <br />The CBT, with Miller's help, analyzed statistics from Arbitron, a research firm that surveys radio listeners. The statistics were from two listening periods, or ratings books: fall 2008 to spring 2008 and fall 2008 to spring 2009. The analysis used surveys of listeners ages 25-54, the demographic of most interest to advertisers, and measured time spent listening as well as each station's share of radio listeners in the market <br /> <br />Source: Radio listeners changing habits &lt;/5862/2009/10/02/radio-listeners-changing-habits&gt;

[master_mind413]

I only listen to radio because i can not afford to update my sterio in my car to use an mp3 player otherwise it would be mp3 at home sterio has a usb port I listen to mp3 more but more then anything i watch tv <br /> <br />im simply saying it depends on area they live in metro will have more mp3 urban probably cd and country will be radio and 300 people does not count for the majority of the united states if they had used 800 or a 1000 people from all different areas accross the nation i could see the results as conclusive but 300 ? not likely