What Key Findings Can Be Found In The Q3 ‘Share of Ear’ Report?

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Edison Research’s quarterly “Share of Ear” study, an examination of time spent with audio in America, has been digested by the Cumulus Media and Westwood One Audio Active Group.


Now that the third quarter 2022 release is out, what are the key findings from the latest report?

There is a continued “Perception vs. Reality” problem facing Radio, as agencies and advertisers “underestimate” AM/FM radio shares and “overestimate Pandora and Spotify audiences.”

A study of 300 media agencies and marketers conducted in August 2022 by Advertiser Perceptions found the perceived combined share of Pandora/Spotify is 44%, much greater than the 28% perceived share of AM/FM radio.

According to the just-released “Share of Ear” report, AM/FM radio’s persons 18+ share of ad-supported audio (74%) is 15 times larger than Pandora (5%) and 19 times greater than Spotify (4%).

Furthermore, AM/FM radio streaming hit a record high, representing 17% of persons 25-54 AM/FM radio listening, Edison Research data find.

LADIES CHOICE

That said, women aren’t driving streaming growth for traditional radio in the digital space.

Among men 25-54, AM/FM radio streaming represents an astonishing 23% of all AM/FM radio listening, up from 8% in 2016/

Among women 25-54, AM/FM radio streaming has been flat since 2018.

Why? Spoken word represents a far greater share of AM/FM radio streaming time spent (41%) compared to over-the-air AM/FM radio (28%). Among men, nearly half of AM/FM radio streaming time spent goes to spoken word. This likely includes sports programming, in addition to the wide variety of conservative talk radio programming available in the U.S.

Lastly, Cumulus Media points to the robust Edison Research finding that AM/FM radio is the “queen of the road” with an 89% share of ad-supported audio in the car. While that’s down from past years, it still demonstrates that traditional radio, even with more audio competition than ever, is still a dominant choice while on the road.