Survey: Radio ownership is dwindling and there’s no clear replacement (yet)

Integr8 Research conducted a survey to explore radio ownership trends and whether the emerging smart speaker product segment is growing into a replacement for radio sets. The company surveyed more than 3,000 radio listeners aged 15 to 39 who are dedicated to a local genre station. Ownership of radios appeared shaky: while 87% of the respondents owned an AM/FM radio in their cars, only 43% had one in their home or workplace, and just 16% owned a portable set.

Integr8 next asked about streaming radio on smartphones, and found that among respondents who did not own a radio outside their cars, just 10% of them regularly streamed a local FM station. For study participants who do own radios beyond their vehicles, 35% of them also listened to a local station via online streaming. The rates were similar for listening to online-only Internet radio stations: 11% for those without a non-car radio and 24% for radio owners.

Across the survey respondents, smart speaker ownership was even lower than radio set ownership. The age bracket with the highest speaker ownership was the 30-39 bracket at 19%. That’s not much of a surprise given the newness of the devices, but it also raises questions of whether the segment will increase radio listening or whether it will encourage alternative listening options.