Findings from ‘THE INFINITE DIAL 2022 AUSTRALIA’ Study

The sixth annual Infinite Dial Australia study was released today by Edison Research and industry body Commercial Radio Australia reveals that the number of Australians listening to online audio each week has climbed by 8% over the past year.

Edison Research President Larry Rosin said: “Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, the Infinite Dial Australia 2022 delivers many actionable insights… Meanwhile, the Australian radio industry continues to show far more robust resilience in the face of competition than what we see in other countries.”

Some of the findings, in brief are:

Overall, radio continued to be the most popular form of audio – 80% of Australians listened to radio via AM, FM, DAB+, live streaming or catch-up podcasts over the last week, holding steady with 2021 figures.

Nearly 15.6 million Australians, or 71% of our population aged 12+, listens to, or are engaged directly with online audio weekly, up from 66% in 2021 and 46% when the study first started back in 2017.

And during Covid, monthly listening rose from 74% last year to an impressive 78%.

The average time spent listening to online audio increased to 13 hours and 31 minutes per week, up from 12 hours and 11 minutes a year ago.

Radio also remained the top audio source while people used their car with 80% listening to radio in the last month, and nearly one in three people said they had listened to a podcast in-car.

Speaking of podcasts, Australia overtook one of the most advanced podcast markets in the world – the USA, with the number of people who listened to a podcast in the last month growing to 40% from 37% a year ago (compared to 38% in the US in 2021), while the number of weekly podcast listeners remained steady at 26%.

Podcast listeners were also more deeply engaged, listening to an average of seven episodes in the last week.

With the average time spent listening to podcasts climbing to seven hours and six minutes per week, up from only five hours a week in 2021.

“The 2022 Infinite Dial results show that digital audio in Australia is booming while radio continues to be the leading choice of audio both at home and in the car,” said CRA chief executive officer Ford Ennals.

The Infinite Dial Australia 2022 study explores the penetration of online digital audio in Australia and is based on the Infinite Dial US report, the longest-running survey of digital media consumer behaviour in America.

The research was conducted by Edison Research in the first quarter of 2022, using a nationally representative sample of 1,001 Australians. And research was sponsored by CRA, LiSTNR and Triton Digital.

The full report is available – HERE – on the CRA website, where you will find a breakdown of the slideshow deck, plus infographic and a recording of the release.