Australians are listening more audio, 11 hours per week

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.

Read more