Australians spend around one third of all their time spent with media in an average weekday, listening to commercial radio. Breakfast comprises the strongest share of time for the medium, according to Commercial Radio Australia’s (CRA) updated 2002 ‘Targeting Time Poor Study.’
The study shows that radio’s share of time between 5 am and 9 am is 69% compared to television at 28 % and Pay TV at 3%.
On an average weekday throughout Australia, 34% of people’s time is spent listening to commercial radio compared to television (39%), newspapers (5%) and the Internet (10%).
However radio performs most strongly across the working day between 9am and 4 pm with its share of time four times more than television– or 77% compared to 17%.
Speaking following the release of the 2002 update study, CRA chief executive officer Joan Warner said the results show radio is the choice of the time poor consumer and particularly busy workers.
“Radio is the dominant day time media and this study shows that no other advertising medium can reach the worker during the weekday as effectively as radio.”
The third time poor study was compiled based on telephone survey research conducted by Taylor Nelson Sofres over a two-week period in September 2001 involving 652 people aged 10+ from Sydney and Melbourne. The 2002 update released this week has been updated with findings based on new analysis of this research.
The study also shows that commercial radio reaches 74% of people in Australia between 5.30 am and 12 midnight on an average weekday in 2002. Radio and television remain the main media choice of Australians despite an increase in reach by the Internet (44%) and Pay TV (24%).
According to the study, commercial radio has a particularly strong youth audience reaching 81% of 10-17 year olds with 17% of males in this age group and 16% of females listening to the radio for longer than three hours each day.
“Commercial radio performs very strongly in reaching the youth market and provides timely, quick pieces of information that youth crave,” said Warner.
Other main findings in the study include:
* Radio reach has been largely unaffected by the growth of Pay TV
* Commercial radio reaches almost twice as many people as direct mail on an average weekday
* Australians aged 10+ listen to commercial radio for over three hours on an average day with 18 plus and 40-54 year old listening for the longest on an average weekday
* Radio reaches 48% of all people aged 10+ between 9 am- 4pm compared to television’s 17%
* Women listen to 138 minutes of commercial radio on an average weekday compared to 133 minutes for men
“The strength of radio is its ability to be intimate – radio provides information, entertainment and information without interrupting people’s lives and is a very companionable form of media,” according to Warner. “Radio is mobile, immediate and can be listened to at home, in the car or at work – a very versatile communication medium.”