The recent RAJAR Midas report for Q3, sparked a lively discussion in the Escapade office about just how much time we all spend listening rather than watching, despite the often lauded age of video.
All of us listen to something on our commute to and from work, and either the radio or a streaming service is constantly on in the office.
While the popularity of ‘listening’ is not in any doubt, there are definitely mixed opinions about which platform, radio or streaming, might deliver the best results for brands, and whether both will stand the test of time?
Currently, radio looks healthy with the RAJAR report stating that overall radio reach had increased by 1.9% year on year, with 49.1m (90% of all) UK adults now tuning in every week, listening to an average of 21hrs 18mins
Sixty-one per cent of the population (33m adults) tune in to digital radio every week, with DAB (74%) the most common platform, followed by Online (16%) and DTV (10%).
While more people are tuning in to commercial radio each week (35.6m compared to BBC’s 34.9m) BBC audiences typically listen for longer (10hrs weekly average, compared to 8hrs 42secs for commercial radio), giving the BBC the edge on the overall share of listening (with 52%).
Dan Stainsby, director at broadcast specialists, Marketiers4DC believes that the converging media landscape, digitisation of content and ubiquitous nature of mobile phones makes listening to radio easier than ever which is reflected in the sustained popularity of radio listening overall.
However music streaming services such as Spotify are certainly seeking to entice brands to consider them as a platform to reach ‘listeners’.
Spotify has more than 140 million active monthly users although 60 million of these are subscribers to its premium service, which does not carry advertisements.
A Spotify study undertaken by TNS revealed that 40% of listeners actually paid attention to the free streaming platform while listening and stated that this number is considerably higher than most commercial radio stations.
It’s certainly an interesting space to watch or should I say listen? I wonder how we will be listening in 10 or 20 years from now?
And in the meantime, if you want to know what the team are currently listening to on a Friday afternoon, you can listen in on our Escapade Friday Playlist here!
Our consumer PR team specialise in connecting everyday brands with everyday people across four core sectors; Consumer Lifestyle PR, Food PR, Consumer Technology PR and Sport, Wellbeing an Fitness PR. More information on these areas of knowledge can be found at www.escapadepr.com/about-us.
