RAJAR has released the winter 2019 results from its Midas survey, an assessment of how the UK audience consumes audio content.
Live radio continues to be a dominating force in the UK’s audio diet. The format has a weekly reach of 88% among all adults, and it had a 72% share of audio. Once again, though, a listener’s age does impact radio’s hold. For ages 15-24, live radio has a weekly reach of 78% and just a 45% share of audio. Ages 25-34 reported an 84% weekly reach and a 60% share of audio for live radio.
Live radio also still holds on to its legacy for some key roles. A majority (79%) of new music discoverers considering radio important for finding new content. Also more than a quarter (26%) of live radio hours are consumed while driving or traveling.
On-demand music had an overall weekly reach of 30%, but again, a break-down by age showed a much larger spread on interest. The 15-24 year-old group had a weekly reach of 65% for on-demand music, and ages 25-34 had 46%. In overall share of audio, on-demand music took second was 12%. The youngest bracket had a 37% share dedicated to on-demand music, trailed by a 21% share for the next-youngest group.
Most listeners for on-demand music are using their smartphones for playback. Smartphones had 76% reach by device, and smart speakers held on to almost a quarter at 22%.
Podcasts generated weekly reach of 17%. This format had less variation by age, with weekly reach of 23% for ages 15-24, 22% for ages 25-34, and 20% for ages 35-54. The overall share of audio devoted to podcasts was 4%. Ages 25-34 had the largest share at 8%, trailed by ages 15-24 with 6% and ages 35-54 at 5%.
Smartphones are still the leading hardware for podcast listening. The mobile devices had 73% reach by device and were responsible for 71% of all podcast listening hours. Smart speakers continue to be a niche option with just a 3% reach.
Voice-activated speakers are helping connect more audiences to live radio, which was responsible for 67% of all listening done on the hardware. On-demand music had a 30% share of smart speaker listening, followed by audiobooks and podcasting each with just 1% slivers.