This Generation's Got Radio - New Stats To Break Stereotypes

Younger people remain committed to their radios, according to the recently released Nielsen white paper, "How U.S. Adults Use Radio and Other Forms of Audio." By realigning the data socio-economically instead of by medium or audio platform, the study offers an unprecedented glimpse into the media habits of various population segments.

Almost 80% of 18-34-year-olds listen to radio every day for an average of 104 minutes. Contrary to conventional wisdom, only 20% of the younger demographic sought by advertisers listen to MP3s daily; and among those who did, 82% also listen to broadcast radio for close to 100 minutes a day. It turns out this coveted demographic tends to be lighter viewers of television, while paying little attention to print and spending close to 40% less time with newspapers than the average adult.

Education and income levels also play critical roles in determining people's media habits. Individuals with a high school education or less spend significantly more time with TV than any other medium. TV dominates their media day with viewing clocking in at 7.4 hours, almost two full hours more per day than the average and accounting for an amazing 80% of their daily media consumption. "

So as Income and Education play a role in the results, demographic trends also show some interesting variance....

"The media habits of various income levels also vary dramatically. Households with annual income below $30,000 consume less audio and are lighter than average broadcast radio consumers with only 62% tuning to broadcast radio daily. Their use of satellite radio, other digital audio options and the Internet is also far below average. But their devotion to television is extraordinary at 478 minutes, or 8 hours, a day.

Meanwhile, households with annual incomes above $100,000 are heavy consumers of audio, listening about 30 minutes more per day with fully 84% tuning to broadcast radio daily. Listening to satellite, streaming and MP3s, as well as other digital audio options, are all above average. Households with incomes above $100,000 spend about the same amount of time with audio as with television -- 210 minutes with audio compared to 224 minutes with television.

What's more, while the upscale individuals increased their use of other digital forms of audio, it's not at the expense of radio. As with the higher educated, the affluent continue to embrace radio -- viewing other audio options as a supplement, not a substitute. It's a completely different story for television, with high-income households viewing close to two hours less television per day than the average household; and 4.25 hours less than households with annual income of $30,000 or less. This upscale segment also shuns newspapers, spending 25% less time with the paper on a typical day.

Employment also plays a key role in media consumption. The employed tend to consume more audio and radio than the norm, are more likely to be online and less likely to read a newspaper. Those who are unemployed, retired or students are extremely television-centric and lighter than average consumers of radio and audio. Similar to low-income households, they spend 90 minutes more per day with television (seven hours) than the average individual, and are one-third less likely to use the Internet. This segment is also 29% more likely to read a daily newspaper."

Viewed socio-economically, the Nielsen audio study confirms that radio remains a vital cog in today's media landscape, especially among the more affluent and higher-educated. Radio has made great strides in transforming the medium, incorporating a multi-channel mix of terrestrial radio, digital audio, mobile applications and audio streams, and we expect these efforts will serve to maintain radio's continued relevance for many years to come."

Great article to share with your clients from a great research piece that has plenty of gems that shatter misconceptions.  Thanks to Bob McCurdy of Katz Marketing Solutions for encapsulating the research.