Younger Listeners Coming Back To Radio!?



There is some good news in the air in what was thought to be a declining market share of young radio listeners.  Until October 2008, it appeared that youthful listeners had latched onto their iPods and MP3 players, and as is usually the case with the young and new technology, they embraced it quickly, and didn’t skip a beat in discarding traditional radio listening.  It seemed the love of radio that held a generation of baby boomers tightly in its grip was quickly being dumped by the younger set.  However, a new study by the media research firm Paragon Media Strategies, reported on by Alex Mindlin in the New York Times, suggests for radio, the possibility of a more positive trend on the horizonYounger listeners are turning to HD Radio

According to the article, radio ratings company Arbitron found teen radio listening was declining. “Teenagers on average spent three fewer hours listening to the radio in 2007 than they did in 1998…and listening had declined more steeply among adults 18 to 24.” 



Now, here’s the good news.  While Arbitron has not published statistics for 2008, the media research firm, Paragon Media Strategies, conducted a recent online study titled Youth Radio and New Media, and reported “that 14- to 24- year-olds mostly say their radio listening has increased over the last year or two, while they said the opposite last year.” (Detailed results of the complete Second Annual Youth Radio and New Media Study can be found on Paragon’s website at www.paragonmediastrategies.com.) 



Personalized/Mix CDs and iPods appear to be the two new mediums primarily responsible for the turn away from radio.  The report states that “83% of 15-24 year olds own an iPod or portable MP3 device” and “77% say they listen to personalized CDs.”   These new tools provide the young listener with more selection and no longer constrain them to the old narrow station formats.  “In 2007, the net loss to radio from iPods was 33%.  The loss slowed somewhat this year to a net loss of 13%.  Net loss from listening to Personalized/Mix CDs was 13% in 2007, and 2% in 2008, according to the report. 



How do the experts explain this turn-around?  According to Mindlin, Larry Johnson, the Paragon Media Strategies Senior Research consultant who authored the study, cited more than one possible reason.  “Radio stations may be doing a better job at connecting with those people” and “the music may also simply be more interesting.  There tends to be a cycle.” the article states.  But, according to Eliot Van Buskirk in an article on the Wired Blog Network, in September Johnson said, “There doesn’t appear to be a whole lot more damage iPods can do to radio TSL (Time Spent Listening) now that iPod use and ownership has permeated our culture.”    



“The study also found,” according to Van Buskirk, “that young people aren’t finding much to listen to on HD Radio (although they’re growing more aware of it), that cell phones are another threat to traditional radio listening and that young people, especially women, are spending more time listening to mix CDs relative to traditional radio.



Johnson noted in his report that radio does have convenience and price (it’s free) going for it, as well as being a source for new music and personalities.  So, it would seem that radio has reason to be cautiously optimistic about its future with the younger generation in an increasingly tech savvy world. 


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