Click here to download the Cumulus Media | Westwood One Audio Active Group® analysis report of Edison Research’s “Share of Ear.”

Click here to view a 12-minute video of the key findings.

For the last ten years, Edison Research’s quarterly “Share of Ear” study has been the authoritative examination of time spent with audio in America. Edison surveys 4,000 Americans annually to measure daily reach and time spent with all forms of audio. This analysis of the just released Q2 2024 data focuses on what advertisers care about – ad-supported audio.

Here are five key findings:

1. Since consumer interest in Pandora Radio hit an all-time high in 2008, its audience and profile have significantly collapsed, according to Google Search trends.
2. A brand-new Advertiser Perceptions study conducted in August 2024 reveals marketers and media agencies need to “take the me out of media” as they wildly overestimate Spotify and Pandora audiences and dramatically understate AM/FM radio’s shares.
3. AM/FM radio represents the dominant ad-supported audio platform with a 69% overall share and a massive 86% in-car share.
4. Podcast audiences soar. At a 19% share of ad-supported audio, podcasts now represent one out of every five minutes of U.S. ad-supported audio.
5. Among registered voters, AM/FM radio leads in ad-supported audience share (69%), followed by podcasts (19%).

What ever happened to Pandora Radio?

Google search trends, a strong expression of consumer interest, reveal Pandora Radio’s high point occurred in 2008 and fell sharply over the last 16 years. Pandora’s current consumer interest levels are just 5% of its 2008 heyday, according to Google search trends.

Ad-supported Pandora’s daily reach has been cut in half; AM/FM radio streaming is twice as big as ad-supported Pandora and ad-supported Spotify

Since 2017, Edison’s “Share of Ear” reports ad-supported Pandora’s daily reach has plunged from 12% to 6%. At a 63% daily reach, AM/FM radio’s audience is ten times larger than Pandora. Amazingly, the 11% daily reach of AM/FM radio streaming is double that of ad-supported Pandora (6%) and ad-supported Spotify (5%).

Pandora experiences sharp audience erosion in every demographic except persons 65+

Pandora’s share loss is most significant among 13-44s.

In 2016, Barton Crocket, Wall Street media analyst at FBR Capital Markets, assessing the demise of Pandora observed:

“Pandora pioneered something really interesting, really special with their free ad-based streaming music service … [but now] the early adopters are moving to on-demand, & mainstream America is still in love with AM/FM radio.”

Barton Crockett, FBR Capital Markets Analyst “Pandora’s Plan to Stay Independent Means Push Beyond Radio,” Bloomberg Business, March 7, 2016

Perception versus reality: Advertisers and agencies wildly overestimate Spotify and Pandora’s audiences and dramatically understate AM/FM radio audiences

In August 2024, Advertiser Perceptions, the leader in measuring brand and media agency sentiment, surveyed 303 agencies and advertisers with media budget decision making responsibility. Marketers and media agencies were asked to estimate the audience shares of Spotify, Pandora, and AM/FM radio.

The perceived shares were compared to the reality of audiences from Edison’s Q2 2024 “Share of Ear” study. Perceptions came nowhere close to actual audience shares.

In the case of Spotify, the perceived audience share (25%) was six times larger than Spotify’s actual audience share (4%).

Pandora’s audience share (5%) is three times smaller than its perceived 18% share among agencies and advertisers.

AM/FM radio’s actual audience share (69%) is two and half times larger than perceived (27%).

Marketers and agencies need to take the “me out of media”

In light of these findings, Bob Hoffman, a long-time ad agency executive and now an in-demand speaker at industry conferences, asks: “How can professional people who work in an industry that is largely constructed on media behavior be so astoundingly misinformed? The answer is pretty simple. … Marketers always overestimate the attraction of new things and underestimate the power of traditional consumer behavior.”

To create informed planning decisions, marketers and agencies should take the “me” out of “media” and fully understand today’s media behaviors.

Legendary marketing professor Mark Ritson explains, “There is increasing global evidence that marketers are basing their media choices on their own behaviour or that stoked by the digitally obsessed marketing media, rather than actual audience data.”

In their book How Not To Plan: 66 Ways to Screw It Up, Les Binet and Sarah Carter remind agencies and brands, “We’re marketing and communication people, we’re different from the majority. In the US and UK, we’re less than 1% of the population. We tend to be younger. … And we live in a handful of big cities. So it’s all too easy for us overlook how different our lifestyles and perceptions are from the people we talk to.”

Acknowledging this, Colin Kinsella, the former CEO of Havas Media North America concludes, “The biggest risk for AM/FM radio is the 26-year-old planner who lives in New York or Chicago and does not commute by car and does not listen to AM/FM radio and thus does not think anyone else listens to AM/FM radio.”

AM/FM radio has a dominant 69% share of ad-supported audio; Podcasts have a 19% share

At a 19% share, podcasts tower over music streaming services like Pandora (5%) and Spotify (4%). Podcasts represent one out of every five minutes of American ad-supported audio, an impressive accomplishment.

In the car, AM/FM radio has a stunning 86% share of ad-supported audio

On the path to purchase, AM/FM radio is the obvious choice for advertisers as the “queen of the road.”

Among registered voters, AM/FM radio leads in ad-supported audience share (69%) followed by podcasts (19%)

AM/FM radio’s strength is consistent across the political spectrum. Podcasts perform better with Democrats and Independents.

Key findings:

1. Since consumer interest in Pandora Radio hit an all-time high in 2008, its audience and profile have significantly collapsed, according to Google Search trends.
2. A brand-new Advertiser Perceptions study conducted in August 2024 reveals marketers and media agencies need to “take the me out of media” as they wildly overestimate Spotify and Pandora audiences and dramatically understate AM/FM radio’s shares.
3. AM/FM radio represents the dominant ad-supported audio platform with a 69% overall share and a massive 86% in-car share.
4. Podcast audiences soar. At a 19% share of ad-supported audio, podcasts now represent one out of every five minutes of U.S. ad-supported audio.
5. Among registered voters, AM/FM radio leads in ad-supported audience share (69%), followed by podcasts (19%).

Click here to view a 12-minute video of the key findings.

Pierre Bouvard is Chief Insights Officer of the Cumulus Media | Westwood One Audio Active Group®.

Contact the Insights team at CorpMarketing@westwoodone.com.