Report: Smartspeakers Could Bring Radio Back Home

RADIO ONLINE | Thursday, October 5, 2017

In a blog post, Integr8 Research's Matt Bailey examines how changing technology is impacting radio listening outside the car. He gives creedence that while clock radios, stereos and Walkmans disappear, smartspeaker devices like the Amazon Echo and Google Home have given new hope to programmers for bringing local radio back into listeners' homes with the continuing role of introducing listeners to new music.

While screen-driven smartphones and tablets have proven well-suited to the endless exploration Spotify and YouTube enable, smart speakers seem perfectly suited to radio, writes Bailey. Why? Because they're powered by voice commands, listeners have to know what they want to hear and how to ask for it. In theory, he says, that gives strong local radio brands a head start since there isn't a screen filled with endless competing choices.

In a study, Integr8 Research conducted 3,140 online interviews with 15- to 39-year-olds who are partisans to a local CHR, Rhythmic CHR, Urban, Alternative, or Country station. The firm asked what devices they own, what services they use to hear music, and where they hear new music first.

The study found that AM/FM radios are vanishing outside of the car. The vast majority (87%) (15-39) owned a car with an AM/FM radio. However, only 43% have a traditional radio at home or at work and a scant 16% own a portable radio. Together, only 48% still own a radio other than in their car.

Additionally, the study found that people who don't own radios are less likely to stream local stations and are less likely to own smart speakers. That's because the youngest listeners are least likely to own any of these devices. Among listeners in their late 30s, 63% still have a radio outside of a car, while 19% own a smart speaker. Among 15- to 19-year-old teens, however, only 37% still have a radio outside of a car. Only 10% of these same teens own a smart speaker.

Read the complete blog post here.