The general trend has seen media consumption gradually move into the digital space and this is certainly the case for listening habits and radio, with new figures from the latest RAJAR report (Q1 2018) citing that for the first time, the majority of radio is now listened to digitally.
What is digital radio?
By digital radio, we mean listening to radio through DAB in homes and cars, online or through apps (also includes the rapidly growing number of smart speakers), or through digital TVs.
DAB listening still accounts for the majority of digital listening with 72%, but the interesting growth area is the online and app listening which accounts for 18% of digital listening and 9.3% of total radio listening.
There is significant reach in the online space for radio advertisers with 27.8% of adults over 15 claiming to listen to live radio via a smartphone or tablet at least once a month.
What does this mean for advertisers?
This creates opportunities for advertisers to get in front of a highly-engaged audience using radio brands’ platforms and content, but advertisers should take advantage of all the benefits digital has to offer; more granular targeting and tracking the impact of your activity online.
Epiphany’s team can buy audio inventory programmatically allowing advertisers to tap into their audience when they are engaged, mostly listening through mobile devices with headphones.
Digital also offers advertisers more insight from their campaign; finding out more about their audience and what drives performance, allowing advertisers to get the most from their spend.
Continued growth?
Digital listening has been growing every year with the latest figures showing 8% growth since last year and a massive 92% since 2011, so this trend doesn’t look to be slowing down any time soon.
Listening to radio online or through apps has seen the largest growth in hourly listening by 17% and this is only going to be helped by more connected devices in homes and cars.
The latest figures show that digital listening is on the rise, whether through radio, podcasts or streaming, digital audio is already part of our everyday lives.
This gives advertisers the perfect opportunity to utilise the benefits of granular targeting, precise tracking and audience insights to get the most from their radio and digital audio campaigns.