Internet Usage Boosts Radio Audiences

Radio’s increasing popularity may be linked to the internet, as users of one medium are more likely to use the other. Research carried out by Radio Joint Audience Research (RAJAR) in what it believes to be the biggest survey of its kind, has revealed the trend.

It was found that while 9% of all adults surveyed used the internet “most days”, among adults who listened to the radio the figure rose to 9.4%, a pattern which was repeated among those with higher and lower internet usage. It was also found that while the weekly reach for radio amongst the whole population was 90%, amongst regular users (defined as those using at least once a week) it was 95%.

BBC representative Vanessa Griffiths speculated that in the face of increasing entertainment choice offered by new media, “radio does well, TV does less well.” She said that this may be because people are now looking for “value for time, rather than value for money”, which radio offers as it can be listened to while carrying out other activities.

The potential seems to be there to capitalise on this trend with improvements in technology, as the internet is not yet being used as a way of listening to the radio. Although 8.3% of those surveyed had visited a radio station website, only 3.3% had ever listened to a station via the internet. Presenting the results of the survey, Radio Advertising Bureau managing director Justin Sampson suggested that slow access due to bandwidth, poor sound quality on home computers and the telephone bills raised by internet usage could account for this.

The following questions were put to the 33,000 adults involved in the study:

• Where have you used email in the last 3 months?
• Where have you accessed the internet (other than for email) in last 3 months?
• How often do you generally use the internet?
• Have you ever visited a radio station’s website?
• Have you ever listened to the radio via the internet?
• What type of station did you listen to via the internet?
• How often do you listen to the radio via the internet?

RAJAR: 020 7584 3003