Today Jacobs Media released its epochal Techsurvey 2025, in which nearly 25,000 listeners to 500 commercial radio stations in the U.S. and Canada were queried. This annual project was in the field during January and February of this year.
The release document is an 80-page PDF, presented in a public webinar today (April 15). RAIN News received a preview version for timely coverage.
Keys Up Front
In a deep and content-rich report such as this, we appreciate seeing key takeaways up near the top, as Jacobs Media has done. Those 10 essential results are below, followed by a selection of detailed findings.
- Broadcast radio is treading water. It is aging, and while some vital signs are OK, others show erosion.
- “Being local” is a perceived asset and not just a slogan. It has grown since the pandemic.
- For the seventh consecutive year, personalities overshadow music as a main driver of broadcast radio listening.
- Why are one in ten listening less? A combination of digital choice, COVID lag, and “unforced errors” with content.
- The digital transformation rolls on, but it has slowed down and become more incremental.
- It’s still about “meeting the audience where they are.” New paths include newsletters, smart TVs, and short videos.
- The better equipped the car with dashboard technology, the more radio listening in the car is being
challenged. - Mobile is like media’s “connective tissue” – it is everywhere.
- Social media’s impact has grown due to its growing role as a news source and for driving influencer-inspired purchases.
- Podcasting reaches an all-new high in weekly listenership, a sign it is becoming a mainstream medium.
Aging
The header of this section is not RAIN’s editorial comment; Techsurvey gets right to the age demographic, observing that the average survey respondent is four years older than the 25-43 demo. To be more exact, the very interesting chart below illustrates radio’s age creep, with full demographic detail:
Stability
Listening to AMFM as a whole is pretty stable, over four years at least. That stability is championed by Boomers in the lead, and straggled by Millennials (see below). But even the Millennial cohort is hanging in there with radio listening at an 81% pace.
It’s all about …
Radio’s big advantage? No — not because it’s free, although that is the #2 reason for listening. The #1 reason is about ease — specifically easy to use in thecar. Content (specifically songs) doesn’t appear until the #6 reason (56%). Djs do better (and they are content, too) — the #3 reason for listening.
Here’s the chart of all the reasons (in which we observe “Sports” is sulking in the #21 position, only 16%).
Following the basics above, this exhaustive report digs into the weeds of radio genres, radio’s “local edge,” post-Covid assessments, connection to community, the rising influence of hosts (and many aspects of host appeal), what young listeners like, the detrimental effects of personality turnover, how competing channels a faring, and much more. We will return to some of these, and other key topics of this 80-page report, in future editions.
