RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research), the radio/audio measurement organization of the UK, released its Winter 2024 MIDAS report. It is designed to “provide context and insight into how, when, and where audio content is being consumed.” (RAJAR characterizes the modern radio/ecosystem as “this current liberated environment.”)
The mission is to show and quantify how listeners are embracing the multi-platform and multi-device offering, as well as how on-demand audio is contributing to listening behaviour.
The report also reveals consumer location and behavior while listening, how listening happens in groups, and how audio makes listeners feel.
Strength
“Weekly audio listening in the UK remains strong,” the report claims in its opening summary. The chart below illustrates the dominance of live radio, and its five key competing channels, all broken down by age groups.
If you remove Live Radio and Audiobooks from the chart above, and reformat the information to show usage, and then stretch the results over five years, you get the chart below.
In the reckoning above, we see the decline of Owned Music from first place to third, while On Demand Music ascends from second place to a soaring first place. At the same time, Podcasts rise from 14% reach to 25%. Owned Music exhibits the biggest decrease in use.
Connected Audio
Connected Audio, in this report, refers to audio conveyed through an internet device. “This has been a particular area of growth over the last few years,” MIDAS observes, “as the population continues to desire their listening preferences stored on their devices and accessible with a single touch.”
“Connected audio reaches 70% of the population, and on average adults listen for about 18 hours per week.” –RAJAR Winter 2024
In a convincing graphic, RAJAR shows connected audio inexorably rising in influence over six years:
Neediness
Interestingly, RAJAR establishes an emotional condition around which to gether statistics about preferred audio types: The Need State.
Five Need States are exhibited:
- Amplify My Mood
- To Feel Informed
- Keep Me Company
- Keep Me In The Loop
- Provide a Social Soundtrack
For each of these, MIDAS has discovered listener preferences for four types of audio: Live Radio, On Demand Music, Podcasts, and Listen Again.
Live Radio takes gigantic leads for feeling informed (below) and amplifying mood.
The back end of MIDAS’s deck describes several measurement angles:
- Weekly reach of live radio, by activity. (Driving wins this one.)
- Gender breakdown in catch-up listening. (59% female.)
- On demand music is “an anywhere, anytime accompaniment. (37% of the population.)
- On demand listening is a youthful activity. (Half of listeners are under 35.)
- On demand is social, especially for the over-25 cohort. (And mostly happens at home.)
Podcast Listening
The final section of MIDAS’s 25-page presentation is about the podcast listener. Broad facts are established first:
- The podcast listener audience is 55% female, 45% male.
- Fifty-one percent of all pod listening happens at home.
The most popular podcast genres are Comedy (keeping in mind that many not-really-funny interview shows are categorized in this group), News/Politics, Sports (for men), and Health/Fitness (women).
As always we suggest grabbing and perusing the original data release, which is a free download. Get it HERE.