The first ratings of 2024 have shown 82% of Australians – a record 12.26 million people – are listening to commercial radio, while GfK Radio Survey 1 also showed promising growth in younger audiences.
Commercial Radio & Audio (CRA) welcomed the results, which showed commercial radio’s total audience grew by 72 thousand, or 0.6%, while there was a 1.3% jump in the number of listeners aged 10-24 to 2.8 million.
“We are really encouraged by the first survey results for 2024, which show commercial radio continues to grow its audience and bring in younger listeners,” said CRA chief executive officer Ford Ennals.
“Radio is always evolving to suit changing listening habits, which is why we continue to grow our audience to new record levels, and 82% of Australians are listening to commercial stations.”
There has been an increase in commercial radio streaming, up 2.9% since GfK Radio Survey 8 2023.
“Audiences are continuing to explore their digital options, with 3.2 million people aged 10 and over listening to commercial radio via streaming, and 4.7 million listening to commercial radio on a DAB device,” he said.
Commercial DAB+ stations also saw growth in younger audiences, with listeners aged 10-24 up by 5% to 899 thousand.
“CRA has just invested in a major advertising campaign around DAB+ in January and February, and we are pleased to see that could be having an impact,” Mr Ennals said.
At-home (46.9%) and in-car (32.4%) share of listening remained relatively stable for commercial radio, while there was growth for at-work listening, increasing 0.9% to 17.8% year on year*, with time spent listening up by 1 hour 2 minutes.