Study: AM/FM Radio Leads Listening Time Outside the Car

RADIO ONLINE | Wednesday, March 22, 2023 | 11:17am CT

Edison Research

Even outside car, twice the amount of listening time in the U.S. is spent with AM/FM radio compared to streaming audio, according to Edison Research. The graphic below compares two in-car audio sources: AM/FM radio (including station streams) and streaming. When comparing the time spent listening between those two audio sources in-car, among those age 18+, 88% of in-car audio time is spent with AM/FM radio (including broadcast and station streams), and 12% is spent with all other streaming audio

The graph below also shows listening in other locations besides the car. Even outside the car, nearly twice the amount of time in the U.S. is spent with AM/FM radio among those 18+ compared to all other streaming audio. This might be a new way to think about radio consumption and how it stacks up against streaming in other locations besides the car.

It adds clarity to the data to show only ad-supported streaming, and to compare ad-supported radio and ad-supported streaming side by side. In the graphic below, you can see that while outside the car, those 18+ spend close to four times the amount of time with AM/FM radio as they do with ad-supported streaming audio. Note that listening to SiriusXM, YouTube, podcasts, music channels on TV, owned music such as CDs, and audiobooks, are not included in these comparisons.