Nielsen has released the Total Audience Report for Q1 2017 with a focus on breaking down the generational differences in media consumption. Weekly reach for AM/FM radio remains high: 94% for Baby Boomers, 95% for Generation X, and 93% for Millennials. Generation Z’s weekly reach is 88%. For the entire adult population, Nielsen reported that daily time spent with AM/FM radio is 1 hour, 51 minutes, level from the first-quarter results from 2016 and 2015.
In the latest results, AM/FM radio represented an ever smaller share of daily time spent for each younger age bracket. Baby Boomers had 2 hours, 3 minutes of time with radio in the quarter, and for Generation X it dipped to just 2 hours. Millennials reported just 1 hour, 37 minutes of daily time spent with AM/FM. For Generation Z, the result was just 1 hour, 8 minutes.
Monthly time spent data posted the same arc of decreasing AM/FM use as the survey participants got younger. Generation Z had 35 hours, 46 minutes of AM/FM radio time, which rose to 49 hours, 46 minutes for Millennials. Generation X and Baby Boomers were closer together in monthly AM/FM time, at 61 hours, 7 minutes and 62 hours, 18 minutes, respectively.
Smartphone usage showed the reverse trend, although mobile data for the Generation Z group is not disclosed due to privacy regulations. Each age group posted spikes in smartphone use between the Q1 of 2016 and 2017.
