Music streaming and broadcast radio are complementary and broadcast radio actually benefits from streaming, according to Bridge Ratings President Dave Van Dyke.
His company reviewed broadcast listening behavior among those who also spend at least 30 minutes a day listening to on-demand music services such as Pandora or Spotify.
This year’s study revealed that 84% of the panel listened to a music-based radio station during the survey week; 61% listened to an on-demand service. While “time-spent-listening” for radio is being impacted by time spent with on-demand music services, “Interestingly, the number of times or occasions of listening have increased for both sources of music consumption,” he notes.
That’s because as technology has improved access for all to enjoy music one thing is clear: consumers of recorded music are discovering that there is much to discover — and rediscover, according to the findings. “This is a good thing. And radio is helping with curation,” according to Van Dyke.
In general terms, on-demand streaming is improving broadcast radio’s image and utility, he notes. “Though time spent each occasion with broadcast radio is decreasing, there is a symbiotic relationship developing which should be considered a positive. Broadcast radio programmers are now challenged as to how to take advantage of this new good will,” says Van Dyke.
Some 2,000 persons age 12+ were in the sample used in the survey.