Listen Up: Audio Streaming The landscape of digital audio in Ireland. September 2020
onecore.ie | +353 1 649 6316 | • 1 in 3 people have tried some form of digital audio • 41% of adults have tried Spotify’s free offering (ad-funded) What you (streaming radio, music streaming or podcasts) in 2020. • 28% of adults have tried Spotify Premium (paid service). need to know • Radio listenership remains high, but ways in which people are listening has evolved – with later start times and more • Less than 10% of adults listen to Amazon Music, Google digital consumption. Play (Music), Apple Music or Soundcloud.
• Listenership to Irish radio stations via digital streaming is • 1 in 3 people are now listening to podcasts. increased by 30-40% after the COVID-19 lockdown. • Comedy and Society are the key categories of interest for • Listenership through Smart speakers and Connected TVs podcast listeners. increased by over 60% after the COVID-19 lockdown.
Primary Research Methodology
• 1,000 adults surveyed online.
• Fieldwork: 26th May and 2nd June 2020.
• Sample representative of the adult (18+) population in the Republic of Ireland Pandemic Experiment Due to COVID-19 restrictions encouraging people to stay at home, one-third of the population trialled a new way to listen to audio – including music streaming, digital radio or podcasts.
Source: 1,000 adults surveyed online between 26th May and 2nd June 2020, representative of the adult population in Ireland. Similar to Core’s ‘Watch Away’ study on video streaming, there Based on our Core Research survey, 38% of people say their How many has been a behavioural adaption to how we listened to music, streaming habits changed during the pandemic, and while this radio and audio, brought about as a result of people spending was more likely to be younger adults, 28% of those aged over have trialled more time at home and trialling new technology solutions. 40 also said their habits had changed.
Digital Audio? As a result of less time in our cars, commuting and COVID-19 Specifically, 18% of all adults say their habits have changed, restrictions, we turned our attention to music streams, and that they plan to continue these habits into the future. podcasts and streaming radio through digital devices.
This experiment has introduced many of us to new types of audio content and new ways to listen to music and chat.
One-third have experimented with digital audio.
According to 1,000 adult interviews conducted by Core Research in June 2020, 38% of people said they had tried at 1 IN 3 least one audio streaming service since March 2020. HAVE TRIED
Will this behaviour last? DIGITAL AUDIO STREAMING
This report covers three areas – how listening to radio stations SINCE MARCH 2020. has changed, how people have trialled podcasts and the ways people are listening to music.
Source: 1,000 adults surveyed online between 26th May and 2nd June 2020, representative of the adult population in Ireland. Radio: Weekly listeners '000, 2019, JNLR 1,600 High Listenership. 1,400 1,367 3.6 million people “I prefer binge watching series over listen to Irish radio 1,200 watching episodes weekly.” 1,000 every week. 862 823 800 752 While digital streaming services have “I feel like I’m streaming too much challenged FM radio in recent years, video content at the moment.” listeners are embracing new ways to 600 listen, as well as continuing to tune into trusted radio brands that are well 400 294 290 277 established. 263 240 215 193 186 184 181 175 165 161 149 139 200 “My streaming habits have changed107 98 drastically in the past two months.” -
98FM Q102 C103 FM 104 RTÉ 2FMNewstalk Today FM Spin 1038 iRadio NW Cork's 96 iRadio NE RTÉ Radio 1 Classic Hits ”I will continue with myRadio current Nova streaming RTÉ Lyric FM Cork's Red FM Sunshine 1068 Spin Southhabits West when restrictions are lifted.” Cork's 96 & C103 Beat 102-103FM
RTÉ Raidio Na Gaeltachta
Source: JNLR January-December 2019 [Weekday 12-mth), all adults, weekly reach. Pandemic: The way in which people Thinking about each of the following ways to listen to radio, are you spending more time, less time or about the same amount listened changed of time doing each one since the schools closed on 12th March? More time at home, less time in car.
During the March-April lockdown weeks, less people were mobile and spent more time listening to the radio at home.
While mobility returned in June 2020, many people continued to spend time at home and use other ways to listen to radio content.
Based on JNLR’s Omnipoll, 19% of people had used their mobile to listen to radio more in March, 11% had used their home TV and 11% had used a smart speaker.
Source: JNLR OmniPoll, April 2020, Base: All who listened to radio in past 4 weeks: 969 Digital Audio: Time of Day listening to Digital Audio Time of day & Morning Afternoon Evening Night quantity changed 2020
Less time 2019 commuting has changed the pattern 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 0 1 2 3 4 5
In 2020, listening to digital audio (podcasts, music streaming or radio streams) begins later in the day, in Listenership of Digital Audio by month (Index) comparison to 2019, when people had early morning commutes (top chart).
Listenership of digital audio content has also increased since March when the pandemic began, as people began to listen to more podcasts, music streaming and digital radio streams (bottom chart).
January February March April May June
Core estimates Younger Percent of new audio listeners households driving 18-24 16 the change 25-34 21
Young households 35-44 21 are embracing 45-54 17 digital audio. 55+ 25
While 42% of new digital audio listeners Household type (percent of new audio listeners) are over the age of 45 years old, it is households with younger adults that are Young adults 29 more likely to be embracing new ways to listen to audio. Young families 22 29% of new digital listeners (since March Older families 13 2020) are from young adult households (under 40s with no children), while a Older adults 13 further 22% are from households with children under the age of 13 years old. Mixed 12
Elders 10
Source: 1,000 adults surveyed online between 26th May and 2nd June 2020, representative of the adult population in Ireland. All users of platform, as percent of adult population, split by recent new user and always used Spotify listenership March-May 2020 is reaching the mainstream March 2020 1 in 3 listening to Podcasts.
While radio listenership remains higher 96 than 90% of the population at the peak of the COVID-19 lockdown, listenership of other audio also increased. 13
13% of people have tried Spotify (ad- 7 16 funded since March), while 7% have tried the paid for premium version, 28 8 21 7 5 16% of people started listening to 17 6 10 9 podcasts, increasing the total podcast 5 8 listenership to one-third of all adults. Any radio Spotify (free) Spotify (paid) Podcast (any) Google Play Soundcloud Amazon Music Apple Music Other platforms had smaller but (JNLR) significant increases in trials.
Source: 1,000 adults surveyed online between 26th May and 2nd June 2020, representative of the adult population in Ireland. 3 key themes
There are three key Irish Radio: Music Lovers: Podcasts: areas to consider in Trusted Spotify Engagement, digital audio in 2020. Information Dominance not Reach Based on our research, there are three key areas to be aware of when COVID-19 has created a public Music streaming in Ireland now has a With the increase of podcast listening, it comes to digital audio, demand for constant trusted key player – Spotify (with strong and the fragmentation of offerings, information and radio has played an competition from YouTube) – with a podcast marketing can be a challenging active role in providing this. number of other niche providers. space to navigate.
However, as we live with COVID-19, How can music radio and other As podcasts are not a reach-building how will radio position itself beyond streaming services compete with the function, how can brands engage with providing information and news? continued growth of Spotify? podcast listeners? Trusted Radio Radio has re-enforced its importance as a trusted source of information in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Source: 1,000 adults surveyed online between 26th May and 2nd June 2020, representative of the adult population in Ireland. Radio: Trusted news source MAIN REASONS FOR LISTENING TO RADIO IN PAST FEW WEEKS during COVID-19 Radio’s core strengths evident in this time of restrictions – listeners are tuning in for news, music and to keep up to date on issues relating to Coronavirus Main reason was to stay up-to-date News and information 48% Music 26% The future opportunity for radio will be to Keeps me up to date on Coronavirus 21% build upon the strong trusted affinity listeners have with the medium and adapt Discussions/debates 11% to new digital listeners. Keeps me company/I feel less alone 9%
For entertainment 7%
Talk shows 7%
To escape/from worries and concerrns 4%
For some background noise 4% Other comments <3%
Q.3 Thinking about the last four weeks or so - since the schools closed on March 12th - what is your main reason for listening to radio? Base: All who listened to radio in past 4 weeks: 969
12 ‒ © Ipsos MRBI | 20-028458 | JNLR OmniPoll | April 2020
Source: JNLR OmniPoll, April 2020, Base: All who listened to radio in past 4 weeks: 969 Listenership to radio during the weeks of the COVID-19 Radio stations continue to adapt to digital listenership habits, COVID-19: Spring 2020 pandemic were as a result of one key factor – with some of the most popular podcasts being catch-up Accelerating staying up to date with the unfolding situation. services from radio stations and many now offering music only radio streams. change for radio. As people needed to stay informed with the latest developments, they turned to their trusted radio source for the However, many younger listeners are now spending time with news and information updates. new audio. Of those who started to listen to any digital audio As radio is greatly trusted, (podcasts, radio streams or music streams), 43% said they According to the JNLR Omnipoll, 48% said they listened to listened to less radio during the pandemic and 58% of them listeners are also finding new radio for “news and information” and a further 22% said they were aged 18-44 years old. ways to listen digitally. listened to radio to “stay up to date on Coronavirus.” Many radio stations have adapted very well to digital listening, Live radio played a critically important role in keeping the offering streaming apps, catch-up services, music streams and public aware of public health measures, but radio was also spin-off unique podcast content. defined by always on information about COVID-19. Radio (and TV) were perceived as the most trusted news It will be key that ad-funded radio brands adapt even further to source during the COVID-19 outbreak (JNLR Omnipoll). the generation who is curating their own digital listening experience. However, while 31% of people said they listened to more radio during April and May (Core Research), 28% claimed they were listening to less and the overload of COVID-19 motivated people to find music and chat elsewhere.
Source: 1,000 adults surveyed online between 26th May and 2nd June 2020, representative of the adult population in Ireland. RTÉ Streams Streams by Day increase by 33% 350
300 Across all RTÉ stations, Thousands Leaving Certificate digital streams increased Key Covid19 announcements exams cancelled Golf-gate and Kildare since March. 250 Restrictions extended Election weekend Listenership via digital channels (e.g. apps or smart speakers) increased by +33% 200 from Q1 to Q2. While this count declined slightly in July, it has recently increased again as people return from summer holidays and the news cycle focuses on 150 new political debates.
This is further evidence that the way in 100 which people listen to radio is changing. Playcount 50 7 per. Mov. Avg. (Playcount)
0 Jan 20 Feb 20 Mar 20 Apr 20 May 20 Jun 20 Jul 20 Aug 20
Source: RTÉ Audience Insights, Time period: 1st Jan – 24th Aug 2020 / Source: AT Internet. Audio streams/playcount relates to the number of times a stream has been started but with no additional playcounts recorded in the event of a re-start e.g. due to technical issues. A simple count of how many times a programme is listened to. Audio streams from RTÉ platforms only. Independent YOY growth 90% radio also grew year-on-year. 80% 77% 74% 73%
70% 67% 60 - 70% more digital 63% streams compared to 2019. 60%
Across national and local independent radio stations, listenership via digital 50% stream has significantly increased. In January and February, natural growth 40% 37% was 27% and 37% year-on-year respectively. 30% 27% This is further evidence that the way in which people listen to radio is changing. 20%
10%
0% Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July
Source: audioXi Figures from AdsWizz's Analytics Product, AudioMetrix, Communicorp Media. Smart speaker Mix of listening by device and percent change since pre-Covid use up 63% +74% Digital Appliances 15-20% of digital streams to radio are on smart speakers, and 7% are digital appliances (e.g. Connected TVs) +63% Mobiles and tablets remain to be the Smart Speakers majority share of how people are listening +37% to streaming services – whether at home or Mobile & Tablets on the move.
While less people are working in offices compared to 2019, listenership via desktop or laptop has still increased by 35%.
+35% Desktops & Laptops
Source: audioXi Figures from AdsWizz's Analytics Product, AudioMetrix, Communicorp Media. Your Playlist Over one million people are now using digital music streaming services.
Source: 1,000 adults surveyed online between 26th May and 2nd June 2020, representative of the adult population in Ireland. With multiple entrants into the music streaming market in the The Spotify brand is young with 44% of Spotify Premium users Over 600,000 past decade, including Amazon, Deezer, Apple and Google, the aged under 40 with no children, and 37% of Spotify free users people have a success in Ireland has been led by Spotify. aged under 40 with no kids. However, recent new users of both free and premium have been from families, using the subscription Users of Spotify, both premium (paid subscriptions) and free service to entertain both parents and children while at home. (ad-funded) has been the highest among all music streaming to Spotify. services, but listenership remains less than many Irish radio stations.
According to Core Research, close to 1.3 million people have Spotify Users (multiple users use same account) used ad-funded Spotify in the past (but this does not reflect the Spotify free Spotify Premium 1,000 900 frequency of listenership) and 900,000 people have used XX% 900 37 Spotify Premium, with approximately 640,000 of those being 800 Young adults 672 44 the actual subscriber (i.e. others in household may use the QUISQUE 700 LACINIA 21 account). 600 Young families 18 500 NUNC AC399 LOBORTISAd. Funded 400 16 While national music radio stations such as Today FM or RTÉ Older families 234 Ad Funded (new) 12 2FM have a weekly reach of over 800,000, these estimated 300 figures are worth considering as listeners begin to curate their 200 Premium 11 Older adults 100 8 own music playlists. Premium (new) - 5 Mixed It is worth noting that Spotify Premium users may have been 8 ad-funded users in the past, so these groups are not mutually 10 Premium Elders exclusive, but the numbers are significant. Ad Funded 9 Premium (new) Ad Funded (new)
Percent of users by life-stage Source: 1,000 adults surveyed online between 26th May and 2nd June 2020, representative of the adult population in Ireland. Amazon and Apple are an after-thought
Amazon Music launched in Ireland in January 2018 and has Apple Music launched in Ireland in June 2015 and extended 55 million users worldwide. In July of this year, Amazon its global reach back in April to 167 countries. It has become offered people a three month free trial for Amazon Music increasingly important to Apple, since replacing iTunes back Unlimited for new users. Our estimates suggest it has been in 2019. Our estimate suggests half a million people (14% of trialled by close to 370,000 Irish adults (12% of the the population) have tried the service since March 2020, and population). much of this number can include free trials people receive with Apple products. Apple offers a one month free trial for Users of the audio platform tend to be male and from new users. households of young and old families, but there is also a large segment of younger adults who have used the platform. Users of the platform tend to be young adults who can avail of the student plan of €4.99 a month. Young families also Amazon Music has a competitive price point of €3.99 a tend to use the platform out of convenience of the app being month –the cheapest plan when compared to other audio pre-installed on their iPhone, iPad or Mac. platforms and they also offer a family plan (up to 6 people) and a single user plan. Similarly to Amazon Music, the ability to keep all of your platforms under the one company umbrella is key for Apple. This allows them to keep everything in one place and link it with other Apple products they own.
Source: 1,000 adults surveyed online between 26th May and 2nd June 2020, representative of the adult population in Ireland. Google’s confused brands & Soundcloud’s niche.
Google Play launched in Ireland in 2013. Google announced Soundcloud, launched its subscription service, Soundcloud at the beginning of August 2020 that they will be shutting Go, in Ireland in 2015 in a bid to compete with other music down the service in October to focus on its newer YouTube streaming services. Soundcloud positions itself as a service Music app, citing branding issues as the key reasons behind that enables the discovery of new music and supporter of this decision. new, up and coming artists.
Our estimate suggests 18% of the population have access to Our estimates suggest that 16% of the population use either the service, much of this number can include people who the free or paid subscription version of the service. Users of receive it as the default option on Android phones. Two thirds the service are more likely to be more affluent with age of people who have tried the service do not pay for it. ranging between 18 and 50, there is also a significant number of young adults, who make up the bulk of its users. Users tend to be those who are less affluent, and young adults and younger families. This may be explained by the After restrictions were put in place, people had more time to often cheaper phones that the Google Play app is the default listen to new music, with Soundcloud offering the ideal option on, compared to the more expensive iPhone. service to explore and discover new artists.
Source: 1,000 adults surveyed online between 26th May and 2nd June 2020, representative of the adult population in Ireland. Rise of Podcasts 1 million adults now claim to listen to podcasts. Nearly half of these listeners are new since COVID-19 Everyone seems to have a podcast these days and the market Trialling of podcasts has become extremely cluttered with new entrants, as people doubled since have taken to home recording during COVID-19 restrictions. 34% March 2020. According to Core Research, 17.2% of adults had been listening to podcasts before the COVID-19 outbreak began. A HAVE LISTENED TO further 16.4% said they had started listening to podcasts since the outbreak. This total figure (33.6%) equates to over one PODCASTS million people who listen to podcasts. This is a more conservative figure than other research such as Reuters IN RECENT TIMES. Digital News Report which claimed 40% of adults were listening to podcasts in June 2020.
NEW PODCAST LISTENERS 11.7% of people say they intend to listen to podcasts in the future. This sudden interest in podcasts has been matched by Men 46 numerous new podcast series now available from well-known personalities, traditional radio stations and lesser-known Women 54 individuals with an interesting story to tell. 18-24 15 Since March, new listeners of podcasts are slightly more likely
25-34 21 to be women, and 44% of new listeners are over the age of 45.
35-44 20 Many of the top listened to podcasts are produced by Irish
45-54 21 radio stations and listened to as a catch-up option, but listeners are also embracing originally produced content, with a diverse 55+ 23 range of category interest.
Percent of new listeners Source: 1,000 adults surveyed online between 26th May and 2nd June 2020, representative of the adult population in Ireland. Podcast category offers a What type of content are you listening to? Percent of all adults diverse offering.
Considered choice.
Science There are a wider range of topic themes 17% Self across the podcast category. Listeners Medicine Improvement True Crime can choose from comedy to society to 8% 19% health and fitness. 21% Kids & Design Family Comedy 7% 8% Comedy is the most popular category, but 35% Mindful- the second largest interest area is society ness and culture, followed closely by politics as Fiction 23% well as health related topics – 10% Economics mindfulness and fitness. Society & 17% Culture Music 27% history Given this diverse range of content, there 8% are plenty of opportunities for brands to engage specific interest communities. Health & Politics Food Fitness 24% 21% 25% Music interviews 14%
Q. What category of audio content, if any, are you currently listening to? The Evolution of Listening While as our research shows, recent months have found Irish consumers more open than ever to evolving their audio Across popular culture, revolution and evolution are often two consumption, tuning into a diverse and eclectic range of sides of the same coin. podcast content to switch up their daily media consumption away from the 24-hour-newscycle. Consider for example, the history of the ‘talkie’, the all-singing, all-talking, and on occasion, all-dancing film experience. Often For Irish brands, this adoption and experimentation offers credited to have started with ‘The Jazz Singer’, the 1927 film huge opportunity to reach engaged audiences across digital in that popularised film fused with sound and dialogue for creative and immersive ways. But as with every new content astonished cinema audiences, sound had slowly been format, it can be difficult to know where to start. integrated into the cinematic experience long before then, with innovative film-makers experimenting in this area from the To address this challenge, we recommend considering the late 19th Century. following three principles when answering this question in relation to your brand. Firstly, what is the opportunity to Nowadays, we’re fully signed up to all-singing and all-action create original audio for your brand and does it fit within your cinematic experiences, with world-class broadcasting and existing content strategy? Secondly, is it wiser to consider streaming options at our fingertips from the comfort of our partnering with an existing podcast? And if so, what shape respective couches. So more recently, attention has turned to should this take? And finally, what opportunities does the the rise of podcasts with New York Magazine declaring 2019 increased adoption and diverse range of podcast content offer to be the ‘Golden Age of Pod.’ to convert audiences for your brand?
Here in Ireland, audiences have been paying close attention Finally, whether creating your owned podcast content or since Serial – a 2014 spin-off of long-standing show, This partnering with an existing podcast, implementing a clear American Life – won a stealth global following with its measurement framework ahead of beginning activity is key. innovative approach to storytelling and true crime. Since then, Here, robust digital measurement can offer a view on podcasts have attracted a slow and steady engaged audience impressions and reach. While podcast producers must work of listeners with the annual Reuters Digital News report closely with agency teams to transparently share performance Hannah-Louise Dunne revealing this year that Ireland’s monthly podcast listenership metrics and listenership figures. Head of Content Partnerships is amongst the highest in Europe. Approaches to Planning Podcasts
Three levels There are three ways in which brands can Create Consider Convert develop their content marketing plan that includes podcasts. Finally, as podcast and digital audio continues Podcasts offers huge creative potential to integrate Rather than invest in an owned podcast, a more to grow and attract audiences, platforms have audio – a powerful immersive medium - into long- suitable approach for many brands is to consider innovated ways for brands to run audio and term strategic content marketing plans. However, a opportunities to partner with existing podcasts who display advertising across their stable of word of caution. have already invested in and grown an engaged podcast shows to reach specific target audience. In Ireland, the podcast landscape is rich audiences. Growing an engaged audience of podcast listeners with brilliantly produced content, from teams of takes time and investment, and few podcasts will independent podcasters to podcasts produced and A smart addition to media plans where reach the top ten charts. Investment in an owned created specifically for digital consumption by appropriate, this approach aligns with more podcast should only be considered if it fits with publishers and broadcasters. standard implementation of audio and radio existing content plans and output, and is a channel across planning and can act as an excellent way that your brand views as a long-term opportunity to Partnering with podcasts can be done in a number of to drive additional awareness. connect with a smaller, more engaged audience, ways, from a show sponsorship to partnering with a rather than to drive mass reach and awareness. podcast to produce a specially branded series as a commercial spin-off, or in some cases producing Brands who do this well have a strong story to tell short branded segments to sit within existing shows. and are open to trialling new ways to engage audiences. Podcasts do not disappoint, leveraging An area that offers brands lots of flexibility, it also the power of audio to deliver a host of different reduces risk, given that brands have the opportunity formats, from a simple interview show to a serialised to reach an already engaged audience, rather than and immersive storytelling experience. building one from scratch. Like so many aspects of our world, the global pandemic has Digital Audio accelerated listenership trends which were occurring anyway in to the Future. – more digital listening, more curation, more catch-up. With an array of choices for people, podcasts, music streaming and radio brands are evolving their offering to suit the needs of the next generation of listeners.
Credits
Finian Murphy, Marketing Director, Research Planner
Stephen Mooney, Research Executive
Emmet O’Fearghail, Senior Trading Manager
Hannah-Louise Dunne, Head of Content Partnerships About Core Research About Core There is a lot of noise in every market. We exist to Core Research is part of Core, Ireland’s largest marketing navigate this noise. We believe business action should be communications company, collaborating across 9 practices, driven by insight and contextual intelligence. providing services in sponsorship, strategy, research, investment, media, creative, learning, data and recruitment. We work directly and independently with clients across every category and market focusing on business impact.
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