The FCC has released its biennial Communications Marketplace Report at a pivotal moment. With a new FCC Chair poised to take the reins in a few days, one main question remains: how will this data inform the future of radio under a new regulatory era?
Mandated since 2018, the 2024 report provides a detailed snapshot of where radio stands in the increasingly competitive and evolving audio world. Driven by technological advances and shifting listener preferences, the report highlights key trends, challenges, and opportunities across terrestrial, satellite, and online audio platforms.
The FCC opens the Audio Marketplace segment by recognizing terrestrial AM, FM, and low-power FM broadcasters as the “mainstay” of audio programming. As of March 2024, there were 17,370 licensed terrestrial stations in the United States, including:
- 4,427 AM stations (down from 4,580 in 2020)
- 6,663 commercial FM stations
- 4,320 non-commercial FM stations
- 1,960 LPFM stations
This marks only a one-station decrease from the previous year. However, AM/FM radio’s share of total audio listening continues to erode, dropping to 36% in 2023, according to Edison Research, as online platforms gain ground. In-car listening remains a stronghold, but competition from integrated streaming services is intensifying.
The Commission notes revenue for terrestrial radio has remained relatively stable, reaching $15.2 billion in 2023, though this is down from pre-pandemic levels of $17.8 billion in 2019. Digital advertising is reported as responsible for 10% of total radio revenue, reflecting an annual growth rate of 13.1% from 2010 to 2019.
The top 10 radio station owners account for a significant share of industry revenue. iHeartMedia leads with $2.42 billion in annual ad revenue across 745 stations, followed by Audacy at $1.17 billion and Cumulus Media at $550 million.
For satellite radio, the FCC reported SiriusXM, the platform’s lone provider in the US, had 33.9 million subscribers in 2023. Satellite radio maintains an 8% share of U.S. audio consumption, but the integration of SiriusXM into vehicles has been vital for sustaining its audience base – something the company itself noted in a strategic pivot in December.
The company generated $6.8 billion in revenue, a slight decline from $6.9 billion in 2022, from subscription fees and advertising.
The Marketplace Report was bullish on digital, with streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and Pandora leading audio’s growth, driven by the shift to subscription-based models. Streaming accounted for 84% of total US music industry revenue in 2022, with 77% of streaming revenue coming from paid subscriptions. Spotify remains the market leader, with 35% of US listeners aged 12+ using the platform, followed by Apple Music (14%) and Pandora (13%).
The FCC notes the number of weekly listeners to online audio has grown steadily, averaging 13% annual growth over the past decade. Much of this is attributed to podcasts, with 67% of the population aged 12+ having listened to a podcast in 2024. Monthly podcast listenership rose to 47% of the US population, driven by ad revenue that reached $1.9 billion in 2023.
This data aligns with the NAB’s pleas to the Commission to address the mounting burdens on OTA stations, emphasizing the need for adjustments to maintain competitiveness in a marketplace where digital platforms continue to grow. However, even with the overdue 2022 Quadrennial Report and appeals over the 2018 Quadrennial Report, radio likely won’t be the pressing focus of Chairman-designate Brendan Carr’s FCC.
Carr and his GOP colleague Nathan Simington offered dissenting opinions of the Communications Marketplace Report, based largely around how broadband is dealt with in the data and by the Commission in general. Carr commented, “At this point, I cannot support the current Commission’s approach to this Report. But the good news is that there will soon be an opportunity to correct course. I look forward to working on the next Communications Marketplace Report in 2026.”
The entirety of the 2024 Communications Marketplace Report is available via the FCC.
4,427 AM stations (down from 4,580 in 2020)… wow