In recent blogs we had focussed on online listening through the initial period of the Covid-19 pandemic. We thought that it might now be interesting to take a look at online listening surveys prior to 2020 and we discovered that there was already an upward trend before the Covid-19 pandemic. Several reports and surveys seem to confirm that listening to internet radio, podcasts and streaming audio was increasing for some time before the Covid-19 pandemic.
In October of last year, Statista published a summary chart of a survey relating to german speaking people, living in Germany, who listened to live internet radio. The survey was based on people aged 14+ and was conducted between 2003 and 2019.
Between 2007 and 2010 listeners increased by 5%. The years 2010 and 2018 saw a slight increase of 1% and 2%. However, the highest rise came between 2018 and 2019, an increase of 8%.
(Source: Evgeniya Koptyug – statista.com)
In the UK, Radio Today, posted a summary of research conducted in the last quarter of 2019 by RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research). RAJAR, is the official organisation for overseeing the measurement of radio audiences in the UK.
According to their survey “Digital listening has increased by 11% to a new record of 58.5%…” In part, this growth was due to the rising use of smart speakers in the home and listening via the internet. “Listening via online and apps grew by 28.5 million hours (or by 30%) to now account for 12.5% of all listening and 21.5% of digital listening.”
The fastest growing listening platform of 2019, was online and via app in the home. In the UK, “31% of adults now claim to own a voice-activated speaker, and listening online and via app in the home is, for the third consecutive quarter, the fastest growing platform and location…”
(Sources: https://radiotoday.co.uk/2020/02/rajar-q4-2019-new-record-for-digital-radio-listening/ and https://www.rajar.co.uk/)