Cumulus Media’s 2023 Audioscape report shows that while AM/FM radio continues to dominate the audio landscape, smart speakers play a key role in OTA radio’s survival and relevance.
Edison Research’s “Share of Ear” report from Q4 2022 highlights that smart speaker ownership has stalled since Christmas 2020. Ownership rates are in the mid-40 percent for those aged 13-54 but only 26% for those over 55. As out-of-car radio ownership plunges, smart speakers as invaluable to radio: 40% of smart speaker owners do not have a traditional radio in their homes, which marks an increase from 28% in 2018, indicating the importance of smart speakers to AM/FM radio.
As smart speaker ownership growth slows down, the percentage of AM/FM radio streaming on these devices has also stabilized. Triton Digital reports that since 2021, the proportion of AM/FM radio streaming via smart speakers has grown slightly from 23% to 26%. It’s noteworthy that in the past five years, more than a quarter of the total time spent on AM/FM radio streaming is happening through smart speakers.
Amazon Alexa remains the dominant smart speaker device, with an 82% penetration of smart speaker homes, and Amazon Music is the most listened-to platform on smart speakers. Despite this, AM/FM radio is still the number one ad-supported audio share on smart speakers due to aggressive promotion and customer awareness of radio.
