Are you turned on, tuned in, and dropped out?
Smartphone users who say they have downloaded a live radio listening application for their mobile device has increased 57 per cent in less than six months according to data released today by RAJAR.
In June 2010, 1.4 million smartphone claimed they had downloaded a radio app whereas in November that number had risen to 2.2 million people in the UK.
The RAJAR Measurement of Internet Delivered Audio Services (MIDAS 7) was conducted during November 2010 by Ipsos MORI. The sample comprised RAJAR respondents drawn from the main RAJAR survey who had claimed to listen to the radio via the Internet, or downloaded podcasts, or listened to the radio via their mobile phone. The survey findings are based on 1,091 respondents.
The survey found that more than a quarter of those taking part in the Midas survey (26 per cent or 2.2 million adults) have now downloaded a radio app, and of those, 44 per cent use their application to listen to live radio on their smartphone more than once a week.
It also reveals that 6.6 million adults in the UK (13 per cent) claim to have listened to radio on their mobile phone at least once – and of those 53 per cent found their station via an FM preset, and 16 per cent ran an app for the specific station.
The survey also reports on Internet and podcast listening habits in the UK.
Apparently 16.3 million adults (32 per cent) have listened at some point to radio on the Internet, including 14.7 million who say they’ve listened live, and 12.7 million who have used a listen again or timeshift service.
Interestingly, of those who used listen again services, 72 per cent said that such services had no impact on their live radio listening habits, suggesting that time-shift radio is at present complimenting – rather than replacing – radio in the UK. On average, timeshift radio listeners tuned into 1.5 programmes each a week.
In terms of even newer innovations in digital radio, of those asked, around eight million people were aware of Personal Online Radio (POR) services such as Last.fm and Jango, but only 2.6 million had claimed to have used such a service.
Similarly, 6.5 million said they knew what WiFi radio was (a standalone set that allows listeners to listen to any Internet station), but only a tiny sample, 2 per cent, said that they owned such a device.
Over 8 million British adults claim to have downloaded a podcast at some point, and almost half of that number (44 per cent) said that they listen to a podcast once a week or more.
Just as with catch-up radio services, the majority (76 per cent) said that podcasts had not changed their live listening habits, with 30 per cent of respondents even saying that podcasts had encouraged them to begin listening to new radio programmes.
Comedy and music remain the most popular types of podcast to download, with the average user subscribing to around five podcasts, and spending just under an hour a week listening to them. However, only 24 per cent of those who use podcasts are able to listen to everything they download in a week.
