Commercial radio sees 2% growth in metro audience across 2020
Australia’s commercial radio stations added an additional 200,000* listeners in 2020 across the 5 metro markets to 11.1 million, a jump of 2% on the prior year.
Listener habits were undoubtedly influenced by the global coronavirus pandemic with number of people listening at home climbing 8% across the year, according to Commercial Radio Australia’s annual listening summary.
CRA Metro Listening Highlights [Click To Enlarge]
Breakfast radio remained king in 2020, with an audience of 7.5 million listeners each week, although listening in the car was down 5%.
In terms of age demographics, there was a 2% lift in listeners aged 25-39, with 77% of all people aged 10+ listening to commercial, radio each week.
Despite the continued popularity of streaming services, commercial radio continued to reach young people aged 10-17 (84%) and 18-24 (75%) in healthy numbers.
Commercial Radio Australia chief executive officer Joan Warner said 2020 was a year that saw radio continue to show its adaptability.
“Radio proved its adaptability in emergencies and continued to deliver for listeners in a year where we contended with floods, bushfires, a global pandemic and digital disruption.
“Radio also showed that while we’re dominant in the car, we’re not reliant on any one platform or place of listening. There has been a strong lift in listeners across digital, mobile and DAB+ platforms and we will continue to evolve and grow those opportunities in 2021.”
CRA Listening Breakdown [Click To Enlarge]
49% of time spent listening took place in the home, up from 42% in 2019, while 17% of listening took place of work.
In total, audiences spent an average of 13 hours and 12 minutes listening to commercial radio each week.
Commercial Radio Australia and GfK will release the first radio ratings for 2021 on 11 March.
*An earlier version of this story had an incorrect figure for the increase of listeners. We apologise for this error.
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Zanda Wilson was a reporter and podcast producer at Mumbrella, specialising in radio reporting. He left Mumbrella in September 2021.
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