NEW PARAGON YOUTH STUDY HINTS THAT RADIO STEMS NEW MEDIA ADVANCE All Access Paragon Media Strategies' second annual Youth Radio & New Media Study indicates that radio has basically stopped the listenership decline to new media. According to the 2008 data, radio stemmed the TSL erosion that was seen in Paragon Media Strategies’ 2007 study.
"This year's results of this ongoing study can be considered great news for radio, which hasn't had a lot to celebrate lately with younger demos," Paragon Media Strategies Pres./COO John Stevens said, "[because] 14-to-24 year-old TSL to radio is up and radio continues to dominate in-car music listening. More younger listeners say they are listening to radio "more" than "less" and that is a significant change from a year ago." .
Paragon COO/Radio John Stevens offered analysis on the following data:
- Radio TSL increased in 2008. "There was a notable decline this year among respondents who 'Never' listen to radio and among those who listen 'Less than an hour during a typical day'," Stevens said. "Those listening '1 to 3 hours' increased from 28 to 37%, while those listening '7 to 10' hours gained from 8 to 12%."
- Although a majority listens to music from sources other than radio, the percentage of those who list radio as their primary source of recorded music rebounded sharply in 2008. "Those who 'listen to music on other sources more than those who listen to music on FM over-the-air radio' dropped from 73% last year to 59% this year. Consequently, those who 'listen to music on FM over-the-air radio' more than 'music from other sources' grew from 27% in 2007 to 41% in 2008," he noted.
"Although the percentage of those who found out about new music from radio still trails the Internet by 82%-65%, that 65% is an increase from 54% in 2007," Stevens continued. "As for the primary source for new music, radio increased from 22% in 2007 to 27% in 2008, while the Internet dropped from 40% to 34% in the past year."
- More people say they're listening to radio "More" than "Less" -- a reversal from 2007. "The net difference between those listening to more radio and those listening to less radio is a positive 19% in 2008. Compared to a negative 4% in 2007 -- which meant that 4% more said they were listening less last year."
Among the other conclusions of the survey were that radio clearly dominates in-car music delivery with a substantial lead over CDs and iPOD/ portable mp3 players, and that while iPOD use has a negative impact on radio TSL, the effect was somewhat muted this year.
"Perhaps radio is escaping its uncool image as respondents warm up to music they like on the radio," stevens concluded. "Perhaps the music simply got better. Whether our study shows a sustained uptrend for radio or a ceasefire in the bombardment new media had delivered to radio TSL among young listeners is yet to be seen." |