Most AM/FM Radio Listening Remains on Radio Receivers

The dramatic rise of digital audio platforms and technologies over the last decade has been chronicled by Edison Research’s Share of Ear® study. Listening to streamed audio content on phones, computers, smart speakers, and smart televisions now dominates the audio sphere. While AM/FM radio is available on all these digital devices, the radio receiver remains the dominant device the U.S. 13+ population uses to listen to AM/FM radio during an average day.

Back in 2015, 93% of time spent listening to AM/FM radio was done using a radio receiver. Smart speakers were just being released, and households were less likely to own smart TVs than they are now. Ten years later, the portion of AM/FM listening done over a traditional receiver has dropped to 87%. The mobile device and smart speaker have made small gains over the past ten years, chipping away at the radio receiver’s primacy. Broadcast radio companies have made efforts to embrace digital platforms and technologies, but the traditional radio receiver continues to dramatically outperform all other devices for radio listening.

Naturally, in-car listening is a very large portion of time spent with AM/FM, and listening in this environment is almost entirely on a traditional receiver. But even in other locations, radio listening is mostly happening to the ‘over-the-air’ signal on receivers.