Despite how often we overlook it in favor of “new and shiny” media, video never did kill the radio star. Americans spend more than four hours a day listening to audio, according to research from Edison, whether they’re tuned into music or the spoken word.
Broadcast radio gets the biggest share of the audio pie, but newer sources of audio are ensuring the medium continues to grow. For marketers, the message is loud and clear: in the rush to embrace digital marketing, don’t overlook the traditional.
Edison’s Share of Ear study of Americans over the age of 13 looked at listening habits across location, device, type, time, and brand — both online and offline.
It found that:
- We spend an average of four hours and five minutes consuming audio every day.
- More than half of that time (52.1 percent) is spent listening to broadcast radio.
- Internet-only and TV music channels account for more than a quarter of audio consumption.
- Listening to our owned music collections accounts for 20 percent “share of ear.”
Graphic via Edison Research – click on image for enlarged version.
Mobile drives audio consumption
The catalyst for this changing audio landscape is clearly the rise of the mobile device; the proliferation of smartphones and tablets gives us access to audio services like never before.
From Internet-only platforms like Spotify, to satellite radio and TV music channels, consumers now have a spectrum of affordable and easily accessed audio services that they could only dream of at one time. These alternative channels carry enough weight that singles charts, like Billboard, have had to include streaming statistics in their metrics.
As erudite friend, Edison’s Tom Webster, so succinctly puts it: “What has happened is that smartphones and other personal tech innovations let us listen to audio in places we heretofore couldn’t–so the whole audio pie is getting bigger.” And just as brands raced to embrace social, then rushed to embrace content, we are now seeing them rush to integrate podcasting into their marketing mixes.
It’ll be fascinating to see how the figures stack up this year and whether the use of digital audio continues to expand. I have no doubt that it will—audio is just to convenient for too many people to not continue to grow in popularity. What say you — have you used audio as part of your integegrated marketing strategy? If not, are you considering it? Do you find yourself consuming more podcasts and other audio than you have in the past? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.
Other resources on this topic:
Audio: The New Hero of Communication
BBC: Official Singles Chart to Include Streaming Services
Photo Credit: ozono555 via Compfight cc
Growth in Audio: Share of Ear Grows, Here’s Why is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency
