As of the most recent Edison Research update, the portion of AM/FM listening represented by the streams is 8%. How might the crisis gripping the nation affect digital listening? Here’s what Edison President Larry Rosin had to say…
Rosin said, “We’ve been tracking the changes in radio listening since the beginning of Share of Ear in 2014. The portion of listening that is digital goes up a tiny bit with each update, but the total amount remains small. Streaming is a bigger factor for spoken-word stations such as public radio news, sports and news talk.”
Rosin went on to say that President Obama’s then chief of staff Rahm Emanuel is credited with coining the aphorism: ‘Never let a serious crisis go to waste.’ “If the radio industry is ever going to really ‘turn the corner’ on digital listening, this may need to be the crisis that makes it happen. Radio needs to do all it can to remind listeners that they still can listen, on smart speakers, through phone apps, and their computers.”
