Last week\u2019s GfK radio ratings survey results threw up an interesting statistic: AM stations are beating FM in the streaming market.<\/p>\n
The GfK Radio Ratings is the official radio audience measurement service of Australia, covering its five major cities; Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, and the regional markets of Newcastle, Canberra, and Gold Coast also; providing subscribers with an understanding of who listens, as well as when and where they listen.<\/p>\n
As John Musgrove, the head of research for Commercial Radio & Audio (CRA), explains, these results were surprising at first – but actually make a lot of sense.<\/p>\n
As head of insights and research at Southern Cross Austereo for close to two decades, prior to moving to CRA, John Musgrove admits he didn\u2019t pay much attention to AM radio in the survey results.<\/p>\n
SCA were \u201cdefinitely leaders\u201d in terms of the digital space: uploading shows and extra content to websites, early adoption with apps, and the heavy investment in LiSTNR meant they were at the forefront of the ever-shifting landscape.<\/p>\n
But when last week\u2019s radio ratings arrived, they showed that, when it comes to streaming, AM rules the roost.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a perceptual bias that happens here,\u201d Musgrove explains.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, even for me, working right in the middle of Radio 360, my perception \u2013 before we actually got to see the figures \u2013 is today, the ARN and the SCA networks, with their investment in iHeart, Listenr \u2013 they should lead the pack in streaming.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen you see the data, and you go, \u2018Oh, that\u2019s a surprise.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of all those myths. We think of the prominence of the FM stations, they are about young people, and music, and streaming music is really big, and they\u2019ve got big tunes and big numbers \u2013 and old people don\u2019t stream and aren\u2019t into tech. So we\u2019ve got all these biases in our minds.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo when it comes out [in the results], it\u2019s \u2018well, that looks strange\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut if you think of radio as a whole, the AM networks in Sydney and Melbourne, in particular, have been the number one networks there for decades. And, it\u2019s predominantly built upon a lower cume, but a strong TSL share.\u201d<\/p>\n
TSL is \u2018time spent listening\u2019, and, as Musgrove explains it, this is key to understanding why the stations that attract an older demographic are charging ahead in the radio streaming game.<\/p>\n
First of all, Musgrove says: \u201cOlder people do stream.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone owns a computer and a phone, and they\u2019re buying smart speakers,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd so, yes, the young people might be early adopters, but we\u2019re like 10, 15, 20 years into the adoption of a lot of these things. And so the streaming habits of older people are a little behind younger people, but not that much.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd those that do stream? They stream longer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Musgrove looked at the percentage of the overall audience that are streaming radio as opposed to listening the traditional way, and found that, across both AM and FM, it was roughly within the range of 18%-22% streaming.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, there are some over performers and under performers, but most sit in that band, where 18 to 22% of their total cumes [cumulative audience] are streaming.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTherefore, when we\u2019re seeing the strongest shares, what is different?\u201d<\/p>\n
The answer is time spent listening.<\/p>\n
Using the Sydney market as an example, 2GB dominates streaming time spent listening, with its streaming TSL proportionate to its overall TSL.<\/p>\n
In layman\u2019s terms?<\/p>\n
On a normal day, 2GB\u2019s listeners are tuning in for twice as long, across the day, than any of the FM stations \u2013 and it\u2019s consistent across streaming.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not new. It\u2019s just we\u2019ve never kind of looked at that side of the figures before, to say, \u2018Okay, I\u2019m understanding this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Another thing propelling AM stations in the streaming market is the average FM listener\u2019s tendency to fiddle with the dial.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know from my Austereo, SCA days, particularly around contemporary hits radio, if a person\u2019s listening to KiiS they\u2019re also listening to Nova and they\u2019re also listening to 2Day and they\u2019re probably listening to Triple M, and most are now listening to Smooth at some point in time,\u201d Musgrove explains.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo across the general week, most FM listeners listen to about three radio stations a week. So, whereas an AM station person tends to say, be much more cemented: you\u2019re either an ABC listener, or you\u2019re going to be a 2GB listener, or you\u2019re going to be a 2UE.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you\u2019re probably not going to move around for your talk, in particular. You might go to Smooth or something like that if you wanted a bit of gentle music.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, the TSL is just really a virtue of the fact that these people listen for longer periods of time because that\u2019s their station, they want to hear what they\u2019ve got to say.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re not moving around the dial as much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Logically, streaming is the perfect technology for AM listeners.<\/p>\n
You can set and forget. Whereas the traditional radio, with its linear band, is still the most obvious medium for channel-surfers on the search for something to pique their interests \u2013 their fidelity being to music rather than a network.<\/p>\n
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Or, as Musgrove puts it: \u201cSame people, same habits, just doing it via different devices.\u201d<\/p>\n
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