Kiss Insight

THE NEED TO KNOW FACTS OF ONLINE LISTENING 01 February 2011

Here are 7 top facts that you shouldn't be without....

In July last year Rajar released findings of its sixth survey of internet delivered audiences – Midas 6. Basically the survey is an annual look specifically at digital listeners as an extension to the main Rajar survey. It takes, as its base, people who had claimed to listen to the radio via the internet, downloaded podcasts, or listened to the radio via their mobile. We looked at these figures back in August and put them into some lovely bite sized chunks looking at the 15-34 market for you to digest a little easier. Midas 7 was released in December so we’ve revisited our earlier piece and highlighted any significant changes in bold underneath each point.

If, like us, you're a research junkie and these top facts aren't enough for you, more detailed information can be found upon contacting Mark Crawford, Head of Brand and Commercial Insight for Bauer Radio on 020 71828218 or mark.crawford@bauermedia.co.uk

1.   Digital listening is happening now for young people - 59% of 15-34s say that they have ‘ever listened to the radio on the internet’. This compares to 40% of all UK adults. Unlike DAB listening, where original take up was driven by older audiences, online listening is unsurprisingly being dominated by the younger end of the market.

The 15-34 % has stayed at 59% whilst the all UK figure has increased slightly to 41%.

2.    Trial is becoming familiarity which is becoming regularity - 42% of 15-34s have listened live to the radio online with 23% of them saying they listen at least once a week. 34% of 15-34s have listened again to the radio online, with 17% of them listening at least once a week. Whilst not yet reflected in the main Rajar survey it seems online listening is following a pattern of trial, to acceptance, to regularity amongst 15-34s with ‘listen again’ offering a welcome functionality not offered by traditional analogue radio. In a world of BBC iPlayer and Sky Plus for TV it’s logical that the radio equivalent would be embraced by young people quickly.

The only significant changes have been the shift from listening live online at least once a week, which went from 23% to 27%, compared to listening again at least once a week, which dropped from 17% to 13%.     

3.   Listening to radio online complements traditional online activities - The top activities to do when listening live to the radio online are: checking e-mails (32% of 15-34s across the UK do this), working on the computer (28%), browsing the internet (28%) and social networking (24%). This shows that online radio provides great background music in a functional space. Something that wasn’t picked up by Midas, but which we here at Kiss noticed when we did our own recent study into online listening amongst our own listeners, was that 38% of Kiss listeners said that they listen online when at work/studying.

These all increased slightly by 1% - 2% but the order has remained the same – checking emails, working, browsing the internet and social networking

4.   ‘Listen again’ means variety, which means more listening - Two thirds of those listening again to online radio are listening to not just 1 programme, but between 1 and 5 programmes. 59% also say they have started listening to radio programmes that they didn’t listen to previously, meaning they are seeking out new and interesting entertainment. This is mirrored by Kiss listeners in our in-house survey – 61% said that they are listening to the radio online more than 6 months ago.

There has been a slight drop in the % of 15-34s who say that through listening online they are listening to programmes that they didn’t listen to previously. It’s down from 59% to 51%.

5.   Smart phones are creating brand new opportunities to listen - 40% of 15-34s who have ever listened to the radio online have a smart phone (compared to 35% for adults). Obviously the two things go hand in hand and any radio station worth its salt now has an iPhone app to capitalise on this trend. Here at Kiss we recently passed a landmark in downloads of our Kiss Kube app – which is a greater number than listen to Kiss 100 via DAB or Digital TV each week. The iPhone is just one section of the market though – for true consumer traction in a fragmented handset world you need to be across as many devices as possible. (Because of this we have just launched a Kiss Kube Nokia app and a BlackBerry one is in the pipeline).

There have been big shifts here. The % of 15-34s who have ever listened to the radio online that have a smart phone has gone from 40% to 49%. The % of adults who have ever listened to the radio online that have a smart phone has gone from 35% to 41%. 

6.   Better phones equals more listening - 15-34s are twice as likely to listen to live radio on their phone when compared to all adults, with nearly a quarter 15-34s across the UK saying that they listen to live radio on their phone. They are the early adopters but where they lead others will surely follow. We are already seeing evidence of this with Kiss 100’s sister station, Magic. Despite the average age of a Magic listener being 42 we have already had a plethora of downloads of the Magic My Player app since the start of the year.

These ratios have stayed the same.

7.   What is now the germ of a trend could become the norm - Listening via mobile phone is not something recorded in the regular Rajar survey but it is something we often ask of our listeners - 24% of them said that they do most of their listening via their mobile in our recent survey. Further to that 28% say that they do most of their listening online nowadays. We expect these figures to be higher than the norm because they were from Kiss listeners recruited online but, coupled with the Midas results, it seems indicative of a growing trend amongst young people. The reason for the disparity between something like Midas and the usual Rajar survey lies in the difference between claimed habits (Midas) and recorded habits (Rajar). Hopefully, once Rajar moves from a paper diary to an online diary (which is predicted for 2011) we should see online listening trends more accurately recorded by the main Rajar survey.