A report from the Neilsen Company, commissioned by Fairfax Media, has found that talk radio listeners remain twice as engaged as music listeners. The study, which has been conducted every two years since 1998, confirms earlier results, which are being used to persuade advertisers to spend more money on talk radio.

According to the study the average percentage of listeners who tune in with a “high level of attention” is 58% compared with 21% across music stations on a ten point scale.

The study, conducted in Sydney and Melbourne, measured the “listening intensity” of radio audiences by the level of attention paid to individual radio stations.

Since 1998, Nielsen Media Research has conducted this study for Fairfax (and previously Southern Cross Broadcasting) to gauge the listener intensity of the audience.

Fairfax Radio’s message to advertisers is: “As an advertiser, do you want your commercial to be heard by someone listening intently to your message, or by someone listening to your commercial in the background… Talk radio is foreground radio and music radio is background radio.”

Other findings from the study showed that listening to talk stations is highest with those aged between 25 and 64 years. There is also a slight gender skew in listening attention towards males, who appear to listen slightly more closely to the radio than females.