Australians are listening more audio, 11 hours per week

Australians are consuming more audio, now for more than eleven hours per week. This is a finding from The Infinite Dial 2019 Australia, a study of digital media behavior in Australia, commissioned by Commercial Radio Australia (CRA), Southern Cross Austereo (SCA), and Triton Digital.

This year’s survey shows that 85% of Australians are now aware of Spotify, compared to 77% in 2018, and 83% are aware of Apple Music, up from 75% in 2018. In addition, the study found that Amazon Music and Google Play are also widely known and that SoundCloud posted awareness from 42% of Australians.

In addition to those who have used online audio in the last week, time spent listening to audio online has increased once again, with Australians averaging 11 hours and 9 minutes per week, compared to that of 2018 where the average time spent listening to online audio was 10 hours and 4 minutes.

The 2019 study found that podcasting popularity in Australia continues to outpace the United States, as 83% of Australians are aware of podcasting compared to 70% of Americans, up from 78% of Australians in 2018. In addition, Australians who have listened to a podcast in the last month grew from 18% to 22% in 2019.

Smart speaker ownership has more than doubled since last year, with 13% of Australians age 12+ now owning one of these devices, up from 5% in 2018.

“The study shows that audio in Australia is the same kind of dynamic space we see in America,” said Edison Research President Larry Rosin. “Australian radio retains a large audience while streaming and podcasting continue to grow and new devices create new opportunities.”

Other key Infinite Dial Australia findings include:

• Radio is the leading audio platform consumed by Australians with 83% of people age 12+ having listened to an AM/FM or DAB+ station in an average week.
• Radio is the choice for in-car listening, with 85% of people age 18+ having listened to AM/FM/DAB+ radio in the car in the last month. Sixty-nine percent of Australians use AM/FM/DAB+ radio as the audio source they use most often in-car.
• An average of six podcasts are listened to each week by those who are weekly podcast listeners.