Traditional platforms are still dominant, but digital growing among younger set. And while listening remains strong, it offers clues on why listeners drift…
By Paul Marszalek
TheTop22.com
Jacobs Media released more from their seventh Public Radio Tech Survey yesterday at the Public Radio Content Conference in Pittsburgh.
The data comes from a survey of more than 19,500 public radio listeners — 85% of whom are members of 54 participating stations. Worth noting is that this is a self-selected group of core pubradio listeners, and more than 14,000 of the respondents were boomers or older — a finding in itself.
Among the many takeaways are the differences in which those on different demographics consume public radio. Traditional radio continues to dominate.
Among all listeners, 78% listen the old fashioned way, with digital making up the rest. More than half of the overall digital audience comes from computer and mobile streams. (click on the following images for a larger view)
As expected, things change when the data is sorted for millennials, with traditional radio dropping 11 points. Still, two-thirds of GenY consumes public radio via the radio. Streams are approaching 20% for this demo.
Further, podcasts have a better showing here, at 7% — possibly quanatifying the anecdotes we hear from younger audiences who refer to public radio as “This American Life.”
Listening remains strong, with only 8% reporting that they listen less. This isn’t shocking considering the respondents were, as Fred Jacobs referred “the core of the core.”
Interestingly, among those who did report listening less, the top culprits are not the often assumed distractions of other media. Instead, the top reason is a lifestyle change — a new job, home move, or commute, for example. There’s little one can do to combat that.
However, the next three reasons strike right at the product — a lack of interest or engagement in the programming.
More from Public Radio Tech Survey 7 can be found at the Jacobs Media blog.
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