Southern Cross Austereo says that as COVID-19 restrictions continue to ease, their live radio streaming remains a constant with more people tuning into Hit and Triple M stations than ever before.
May was another record-breaking month for SCA for live radio streaming, which increased another 3% month on month and 42% year on year to reach 1.3 million listeners*.
Catch up radio podcasts also had a huge month, rising 47% year on year with 3.4 million downloads^ of popular Hit and Triple M shows.
Smart speakers too remain a popular choice for listeners, reporting 2 million listening hours in May and an average session of 2 hours and 10 minutes.
SCA audiences continue to grow as they listen for longer, with a 30% increase in reach and 47% jump in total listening hours per month*.
Listening on demand, including live radio streaming across mobile, tablet and smart speakers, as well as catch up radio podcasts, exceeded all past records in May:
- 9.1 million active live radio streams, up 3.4% month on month and 38% year on year, with 10 million total listening hours, up 3.7% month on month and 30% year on year*
- Live radio streaming on mobiles and tablets is up 18% from March to May and smart speakers are up 21%*
- More than 14,000 listeners tuned into Hit’s Virtual Trivia weekly games, hosted by Hughsey and Ed, with 670,000 questions answered
- Listeners have loved the return of their footy fix on Triple M, with Rush Hour reporting 530,000 downloads, The Rub 325,000 downloads and Triple M Rocks Footy at 200,000 downloads during May
- Social video views across Hit and Triple M have jumped 300% year on year**
- SCA PodcastOne Australia podcasting downloads are up 127% from March to May. The month of May saw the biggest download month for PodcastOne Australia since its launch in 2017. Hamish and Andy and The Howie Games recorded their biggest month of downloads ever.
SCA Chief Sales Officer, Brian Gallagher, said, “May was once again a record-breaking month across our digital audio products, with more listeners tuning into Hit and Triple M for longer than ever before.
“The trend to listen across a range of devices continues to grow. Audio has proven to be a key companion choice as we move back into more normal routines.”
Sources:
* Adswizz Audiometrix May 2020
^ Omny Studio May 2019 vs May 2020
** Facebook Insights March to May 2019 vs 2020
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