Involved Media Connected Audience Report Spring 2024:
Connected Audio
It’s crucial for media companies, advertisers, and marketers not just to understand the streaming landscape but to anticipate changes by making informed decisions about engaging audiences across all platforms.
In an effort to help our brands develop the most effective strategies, Involved Media conducted the Connected Audiences Report in both the United States and Canada, asking consumers about their media habits across linear and connected TV as well as radio and streaming audio.
STUDY DETAILS
- Sample Size (n)=2002
- Sample Controlled to Census
- Survey Fielded: Late December 2023 into January 2024.
- Topic Extension: Connected Audio
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- Overview of Connected Audio Listenership
- Podcast-specific Insights
- Demographic Comparison Between Audiences
- Reach Comparisons Between Platforms, Not Just How Much, But Where and When
- Cross-channel Audio & Video Connection
Radio still most popular platform, but streaming audio ads up
72%
Listened to any streaming audio service
49%
Listened to ads on a streaming audio service
Source: Involved Media Connected Audience Study, US, Spring 2024
All Ad-supported Audio Audiences
Monthly Audio is not exclusive - 51% of Radio listeners are also streaming audio with ads and 63% of ad-supported streaming audio listeners are listening to radio.
75% of people listen to either streaming audio ads or radio as monthly - 31% of respondents listen to both.
Adding SiriusXM only extends monthly audio reach to 79% with most listeners also listening elsewhere.
Source: Involved Media Connected Audience Study, US, Spring 2024
Audio streamers are listening more frequently
37% of respondents are listening to streaming audio ads or radio daily.
Around half of as streaming ad-supported audio listeners listen daily. Significantly higher than the 40% among AM/FM.
SiriusXM has the same rate of daily listenership as radio and only extends ad-supported listening to and additional 3% of respondents.
Source: Involved Media Connected Audience Study, US, Spring 2024
Podcast Usage Overview
Source: Involved Media Connected Audience Study, US, Spring 2024
Radio Reach Mirrors Linear
Like in video, older audiences are holding on to traditional media types, while younger and wealthier consumers are moving toward alternatives.
Spotify specifically has a stronghold on younger listeners – while 32% of all respondents listened in the last 30 days, that number jumps to 52% of people under 35.
iHeartRadio has the oldest audience of any of the streaming services; their strongest audience people aged 45-60, sitting between radio & streaming.
Source: Involved Media Connected Audience Study, US, Spring 2024
The Ad-Supported Audio Household
Overall parents are more likely to consume audio than others. Note only 19% of parents who listen to podcasts listen to kids & family content, so this is more about taking advantage of time to engage with media for themselves.
Apple Music stands out in its ad-free appeal for parents of children under 12 and under 7 especially.
Audible is nearly 70% more popular with parents of children 7-17 than with the general population.
Radio reach is much less affected by parental status than streaming.
Source: Involved Media Connected Audience Study, US, Spring 2024
The Economics of Ad-Supported Audio
SiriusXM’s small audience stands out for being the highest income and the oldest of the daily audio listeners.
In streaming, Apple Music has the highest income listeners with over half of this audience making over $100K, but this high-income audience is inaccessible with ads.
Podcasts are a valuable way to reach high-income audiences that pay to skip ads.
Source: Involved Media Connected Audience Study, US, Spring 2024
Where radio & streaming differ is the where
Radio is the king of the road with most listeners tuning in in the car, while commuting or running errands. Podcasts & streaming audio are much more widespread in their usage from home to the gym, second screens and all.
Source: Involved Media Connected Audience Study, US, Spring 2024
Source: Involved Media Connected Audience Study, US, Spring 2024
Audio & user-generated content have clear crossover
Audio is by far most likely to be consumed through an app on a phone. This is complicated by the rise of video podcasts that blur the line between what is “audio” and what is "user-generated" These two channels are in stark contrast to both broadcast & cable content and OTT which are still tied to the TV.
Source: Involved Media Connected Audience Study, US, Spring 2024
Audio content also has the most distributed listening times.
Audio content is what Americans start their day too. Like seen with devices, user-generated content behaves in-between typical tv show style programming & audio.
Source: Involved Media Connected Audience Study, US, Spring 2024
Audio is just a part of consumers’ video-packed media diet
92% of the daily streaming audio audience is also available in the daily video landscape – 58% are daily UGEN viewers
Only 3% of respondents are reachable by daily streaming audio and not reachable daily on a video platform.
This remains consistent when comparing weekly ad-supported audio usage to weekly video usage.
Source: Involved Media Connected Audience Study, US, Spring 2024
AM/FM Radio audience less online than streaming audio
84% daily radio listeners are available in the daily video landscape and have significantly less crossover with all streaming video.
Radio has significantly less crossover with all streaming video, U-gens, ASVODs, and FAST than streaming audio inventory.
The one video type that radio has more daily crossover with is linear, with over half of daily radio listeners also watching linear daily.
Source: Involved Media Connected Audience Study, US, Spring 2024
Some top takeaways
- Radio still has a place in many people’s morning routines, but its place in people’s daily lives is fading in favor of subscription media, especially among younger listeners
- Audio is a tool that can layer on top of video, serving a different, more mobile, function but the audio-only audience is quite small
- Podcasts are currently occupying space in both streaming audio and user-generated video – the lines here are only getting blurrier with the way podcast clips are now becoming viral short-form content
Plans for Future Studies:
- Next topic extension: short-form video
- Expanding into Australia
- Continue to adjust the study to reflect the way consumers understand their own media consumption habits as they evolve
© Involved Media 2024
Contact Info
Address: 470 7th Ave, New York, NY 10018
Call: (917) 841-3196
E-mail: info@involvedmedia.com
