Edison Study: AM/FM Comprises 52 Percent of All Listening Sources

Edison Research‘s new “Share of Ear” study has found that Americans spend an average of four hours and five minutes per day listening to various audio sources. More than 52 percent of that time goes to broadcast radio on all its various platforms. New sources of audio, such as Pandora and Spotify, Satellite Radio and television music channels including Music Choice account for nearly a quarter of all listening.  A listener’s personal music collection receives more than 20 percent “share of ear.”

The results come from a representative sample of 2,096 Americans, age 13 and older, who completed a 24-hour audio listening diary during May 2014.

The study provides the first consistent measurement of all audio consumption, including AM/FM radio stations, online radio stations, podcasts and listeners’ own music collections. The Edison Research “Share of Ear” study allowed users to consider audio usage across various parameters, including location of listening, the devices on which audio is consumed, listening by time of day, audio content type (music, news, sports, or talk) and also across individual brands within the online radio space.

“Edison’s Share of Ear study is a response to the many requests from all corners of the audio industry and investment community for ‘total share of everything’ figures that did not previously exist,” says Edison President Larry Rosin. “Edison reported last September that America is in a ‘golden age of audio consumption.’ Seeing that Americans spend roughly a fourth of their waking day listening to some sort of audio confirms it.”