In-Car Listening Has Increased 34%.

In-car listening has increased over the past five years, gaining 34 percent of total listening, according to The National In-Car Study: Can Radio Defend Its Turf?, a study by Arbitron Inc.and Edison Media Research. However, among persons age 12- 24, CD and cell phones minimize radio stronghold as “one essential” in-car companion

On the road

Over a third of Americans are spending more time in their cars than in 2002. On average, people are spending more than 15 hours per week on the road and surprisingly equal time is spent in the car on weekend days as weekdays. While both sexes report equal time in the car on weekends, men report more time in the car than women during weekdays and overall, men use radio in-car radio more frequently than women.

Last minute shoppers and extended time in-car

The study reveals that workers make many stops on the commute home. Seventy-seven percent stop by the grocery store, and more than a half go to convenience stores or large retail stores. Since two out of five consumers decide at the last minute to make many of these stops, it is an advantage to target them close to the purchase.

Advertisers can benefit from later day advertisements as forty-eight percent of listeners have heard advertisements for sales while listening in a car and visited that store later that day.

Consumers with household incomes over $100,000 are 42 percent more likely to make choices based on radio advertisements while they commute. Forty-five percent of men make last-minute decisions to shop at a store on the way home from work. Men are also 31 percent more likely to hear an advertisement and be motivated to visit that store.

Radio reigns in-car

Radio is used by 96 percent of Americans who drove or rode in a car in the last month. In addition, CD players and cell phones are used by more than half of in-car consumers. Of all devices currently used in-car, 75 percent of Americans who drove or rode in a car within the last month used the radio almost all or most of the time. When asked to choose only one device for their primary car, consumers chose radio by 69 percent above CD players at 16 percent and cell phones at 8 percent.

However, radio is less essential for 12-to-24-year olds. Only 49 percent chose radio as the most essential device in the car, while the CD player was chosen by 34 percent. Comparing time spent with radio, 78 percent of persons 25+ spend most of their time in the car with radio, while only 61 percent of persons age 12 to 24 spent most time with radio in the car.

How The National In-Car Study was conducted
Telephone interviews were conducted in July 2003 of 1, 505 of a random sample of Arbitron Spring 2003 diarykeepers age 12+. Ninety-eight percent of the sample had driven or ridden as a passenger in non-public transportation vehicles (car/truck/van, etc.) in the last month.

To view study CLICK below:

http://www.arbitron.com/home/incar_study.asp.