This past week, Edison Research presented The Infinite Dial 2025. The 27th edition of the annual study, sponsored by Audacy, Cumulus Media, and SiriusXM Media, examined digital media consumption and is used by many as a benchmark for overall media consumption.
The results present an analysis of “what is” and a roadmap forward for those looking for trends that appear to be showing growth. Megan Lazovick, Edison Research Vice President, and James Cridland, Editor of Podnews, shared the results. They were both stellar.
The upside for media is promising. The downside for legacy media that fails to evolve and extend its reach beyond over-the-air is negative and dramatic. The way audio and video are consumed has to be beyond one platform. Content needs to be delivered online, smart speakers, via enriched apps, and in a way that takes advantage of the ubiquity of mobile phones. In the early days of portable radio, the benefit that was often touted was that of mobility.
Today, all media is mobile. Smartphones allow us to watch TV, hear Radio and podcasts, stream music, follow our friends on social media, text each other, and even use these devices to speak to one another. Imagine that. Talking to someone on a mobile phone. The connection between cars and devices is only going to grow as older automobiles cycle out and younger more technically savvy people embrace media.
Among Americans age 18+ who have driven or ridden in a car in the past month (88%), 40% have Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, and 33% actively use one of these systems.
Among Americans age 18+ who have driven or ridden in a car in the past month (88%), 28% have Apple CarPlay, with 22% actively using it.
Among Americans age 18+ who have driven or ridden in a car in the past month (88%), 19% have Android Auto, with 13% actively using it.
The study validates that AM/FM radio is the most accessible in-car source. AM/FM still leads as the primary audio source in cars (74%), followed by online audio (55%) and podcasts (31%), though AM/FM falls to 54% among 18-34s, while online audio leads that demo with 82%.
Younger listeners use their smartphones to listen to the radio, even when in the car, through Apple CarPlay, or Android Auto. Anecdotally, the under-18-year-olds in my extended family will listen to a radio station through their phone as a part of the connected car. Even though I can push a button on the dashboard, and they would hear it over the air. The importance of mobile apps cannot be ignored or discounted.
Just when you think that the level of competition for listeners can’t get any greater, America hits a landmark year for podcasting. More than 50% of all Americans now consume podcasts monthly. Jame Cridland noted, “More people (in America) now consume more podcasts than those who don’t consume podcasts monthly.” He added, “Podcasting is now a mainstream media. It’s official.”
Podcast consumption shows signs of growth with the addition of video. Edison Research presented that 48% of Americans age 12+ have both listened to and watched a podcast. According to this study, YouTube is the service used most often to listen to podcasts with 33% of US weekly podcast listeners using the service. Monthly podcast listening is higher among men (57%) than women (52%). Podcasts that use video increase the opportunity for trial and consumption.
This finding supports that radio stations that turn their shows into podcasts should be using video as a part of the content presented.
Social media has become a part of the lives of most of us. It now reaches 86% of all people 12+. Facebook leads the way. Younger users prefer Instagram and TikTok equally. X is seeing small growth after having lost a significant part of their subscriber base a couple of years ago. No surprise in that – there is strong support for the regulation of social media when it comes to use by those under 16.
The state of media consumption is ever-growing, but what does it mean for radio? There will be those who watched the study presentation, reviewed the results, offered up their opinions, and went back to what they’ve been doing with no intention of change. Studies like this one contain crumbs that should be followed to get out of the forest. Hopefully, the birds don’t eat them, and you can avoid being lost in the woods.
Consideration Points for Action:
Extend Your Reach; Be heard and seen everywhere. Be available on multiple platforms. While it’s admirable to be a pureplay radio broadcaster, consumption today takes place on multiple platforms. The time impoverished listener looks to YouTube to watch their favorite shows in bites. Podcasters who deliver their full show, followed by posting individual segments of the same show, grow their impressions. Radio stations should do likewise.
Create a Great Listening Experience; Over the air has always been where the greatest technical focus is placed, but given the growth of online listening, the quality of audio delivery needs to be comparable and consistent. No upcuts on the stream. Limited buffering. Match that which comes from Spotify, Pandora, and others. While I know there are those companies who love to sell in-show content on their stream, a complete simulcast gives you the ability to combine over-the-air and online listening for Total Line Reporting. Sell the gateway ads and the closing ad for when a listener leaves your stream. The added rating boost could be overall more profitable than covering OTA ads with online advertising.
Embrace the Mobility of Media; Listeners and viewers get their entertainment and news on-the-move. It’s a guilty pleasure to be able to stop and focus on any one specific piece of content. Your content needs to be on every platform.
Invest in an App; Too many radio stations fail to understand that your station app is compared by the audience to those delivered by the DSPs and other radio groups. Individual station apps help to build or reinforce a station’s brand. Enriched apps are more than a landing page. They serve as an entertainment and information portal. House all of your content elements on your app.
Streaming; Your website should mirror your app. Broadcasters wonder why so few people use radio station websites. Few have what is considered an enriched site. Mirror your app and vice versa.
Smart Speakers; Given the acceptance of Smart Speakers, activate the Welcome and Goodbye skills to feature a message that supports or promotes your station’s benefits. Smart Speakers put radio back in homes, but growth has slowed. Due in part to mobile listening.
Add Video to Sound; Podcasts with video are performing at a high level. My personal experience, in working with podcast talent, has shown me that podcasts with video can have rapid growth. Especially when one of the delivery platforms is YouTube.
In-Studio Video; If you don’t have cameras in your studio, add them. It engages the sense of vision to go with sound. Retool your studio for video. Take a lesson from The Howard Stern Show. The radio set-up is designed for video.
Podcasting Matters for Stations; The content used should be more than simply posting your radio show. That is one option, but then label and promote that content as the show being available on-demand. Keep in mind in PPM markets to encode the audio used for an on-demand show, but remember that the commercials must air as they originally aired for your station to receive credit.
Podcasting for Talent; My encouragement is for your best talent to develop original podcasts. Those are saleable and build brands. Video should be a part of your unique podcasts, too.
Design Content for Social Media; Bites from your radio shows, podcasts, appearances, and behind-the-scenes often enrich the type of content used for social media. Go down the rabbit hole of watching reels on Instagram for examples.
Cross Promote Your Content Across All Platforms; Tell the audience where to find and use your station. Radio is not known for being a multiple media player. No matter what you may think, we’re not thought of first for much beyond radio. Promote it all on each of your platforms. Before you write in the comments and ask, “Why do I want to send my audience away from my radio station?” Realize that someone who is leaving radio for elsewhere has made a decision to leave. Where they go is dependent upon what else is being offered that’s better. If it’s not to one of your platforms, it’s to a competitor’s. Make it yours.
Use Every Part of the Cow; Many radio stations and many talent create excellent content that airs between too-long commercial breaks. Expose that content beyond OTA by including it in Podcasts, Social Media, and making it available in as many locations as you can. Take advantage of your control. Listeners consume content in bites and on many platforms. Develop a connection to as many of them as possible.
These action steps have been written to initiate conversation inside of radio stations at multiple levels. If you have the initiative to act and apply as many of these recommendations as possible, you will have a better radio station and will be expanding your footprint. Expanding your reach helps sales to move beyond legacy media. Compete with those who are robbing your revenue. If you’re a talent, think about how findings from The Infinite Dial 2025 can benefit you and your career. The station has a brand and so do you.
A special thank you to Edison Research for the study Megan Lazovick and James Cridland for the presentation, and Audacy, Cumulus Media, and SiriusXM for making The Infinite Dial 2025 possible.
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