Radio listeners are spending more time with radio throughout COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, listening on average for around 1 hour 46 minutes longer per week compared to the weeks prior to the lockdown.
This is according to a GfK analysis of ratings data collected during GfK’s Radio Ratings Survey 2 period and looking at a three-week timeframe before the initiation of Government restrictions compared to a three-week period during the lockdown.1
Nearly 1.4 million more people across Australia are listening to radio at home in the midst of COVID-19 restrictions2, with time spent listening to radio at home up by over 4 hours each week, accounting for a 61% share of listening (up from 43% pre-lockdown).
Australians are still turning to Breakfast and Drive radio programs amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Time spent listening to Breakfast and Drive radio across each week during COVID-19 lockdown restrictions has shown stability in line with the usual robust results for those dayparts, with increases of 10 minutes and 12 minutes respectively for the 5.30am-9am Mon-Fri and 4pm-7pm Mon-Fri dayparts.
CRA chief executive officer Joan Warner, says, “There is no doubt that radio is reaching Australian audiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. While their place of listening to radio may have changed during this crisis, audiences remain loyal and are seeking out familiar and trusted voices on radio to give them the latest live and local news and provide them with entertainment no matter the time of day.”
Increases in time spent listening during COIVD-19 restrictions have been seen across the board for all dayparts during lockdown, as audiences turn to radio to keep them informed with vital, accurate and up-to-date information.
During the COVID-19 restricted Monday-Friday work week, time spent listening between 9am-4pm has jumped by just over an hour compared to the same period before restrictions, while time spent listening from 9am-4pm Sat-Sun has increased by over 35 minutes within the same three-week to three-week comparison.
Although share of listening at work dropped to 15% during lockdown restrictions (compared to 19% before restrictions), the amount of time spent listening by those at work has gone up by over 1 hour.
While share of listening in the car has seen a decline, down 13%, the increase in people listening at home has exceeded the decrease in share of listening in both of those areas.3
1Source: GfK Radio Ratings, All People 10+ across the five capital cities, Mon-Sun 12mn-12mn, Time Spent Listening (Unless otherwise stated). Comparison of weeks 9-11 2020 (Feb 23 to Mar 14 ) vs weeks 12-14 2020 (March 15 to April 4).
2 Cume (000s).
3 Share of listening (calculated based on average audience)
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This is the last of the conventional data as we know it.
CRA and GFK have maintained a contract for years yet have still not developed a real time, electronic based method of data gathering for audience measurement.
Along comes the pandemic created by the negligence or malevolence of the Chinese Communist party and GFK is unable to collect data for CRA thus resulting in the entire medium of radio not having any conventional audience measurement to demonstrate the likely increased numbers of radio audience.
What could have been the greatest story of radio's popularity in what is a dark era of history has been lost.
CRA and GFK will claim to be able to do other research but it will not be the conventional research to use for comparative evaluation.
Let's face it, we know the current hodge podge of survey diaries and online recruiting (through nebulous surveys for cash websites) is not the best compared to TV or online, but it is miles better than suspending usual audience research and beginning less objective research.