- Against a backdrop of significant competition for our attention in the audiovisual sector, audio content reaches significant proportions of the adult population.
- Irish audiences have significant digital connections – ownership of smart phones (92%), bluetooth wireless headphones (55%) and smart speakers (44%) enables easy access to audio content. In the home environment there has been considerable growth in smart speaker technology, from 11% in 2018, but the pace of acceleration has slowed over the intervening years.
- Subscriptions to online audio platforms has dropped by 2% points in the last year, perhaps reflecting a move by users to cut back and streamline their paid-for media content.
- In 2024 there is almost universal engagement in the audio market on a weekly basis and radio continues to be the dominant player in the sector, reaching nine-in-ten adults.
- Audiences tend to listen to on-demand audio for shorter periods of time. The opposite is true for radio – more people listen to radio and stay tuned in for longer periods of time. This naturally impacts the measure of share of minutes where live radio achieves the largest share.
- On an average day, in terms of estimated time spent listening, live radio has a share of 75%. Share to YouTube Music and Own music has dropped since 2023 with all other formats, including live radio, gaining a little.
- ‘At home’ is a natural environment for listening to audio. However, listening in the car has increased to 43% (+2%) daily and peaks among those people in employment (51%).
- 30% of people use a smart phone to listen to audio content on an average day and this is the device of choice among the younger 15-24-year-old cohort (56%).
- While ownership levels of smart speaker technology has settled at 44% this year, 10% of the population use this device to listen to audio content daily.
Slides here: Irish Audio Report 2024 Presentation