Radio teams traditionally use the holiday period to take a break of their own, but new research from GfK AudienScope is showing radio audiences are actually more engaged over the summer months than they are with other media.
The research, commissioned by Commercial Radio Australia found that 84% of people consume more or the same amount of radio over summer, compared to 76% of TV and 54% of newspaper audiences asked the same question. In addition, it found that 64% of people listen to radio stations at their holiday destinations.
CRA CEO Joan Warner said the research, the first of its kind in Australia, shows the importance of radio throughout the year
“Stations often do their own research over summer but this is the first time we've done an all of industry survey into summer listening across the five state metropolitan markets,” Warner said.
“AudienScope Q4 illustrates what we've known anecdotally – Australian radio listeners continue to tune into radio over the summer.”
The research also found that while summer is interruptive to a consumer's lifestyle and media consumption, radio plays a greater role for families over the period, with 65% indicating that it gives them ideas for what to do over the break.
GfK Media GM Morten Boyer said: “A strong test of any relationship is whether it can survive change, and radio audiences undergo a lot of change during summer.
“The program content changes and many listeners are on holidays. Yet, even in this very different environment, the power of radio love is prevailing.”
The AudienScope research involves 5000 respondents a year and is released quarterly
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