Commercial radio stations are soaring in popularity, new report shows

Australians are increasingly tuning into commercial radio shows as the industry adapts to changing listening habits, a new report has shown.

ARN Media chief executive officer and Commercial Radio and Audio chair, Ciaran Davis.

The number of Australians tuning into commercial radio has soared by 1.4 million listeners in the five major metropolitan cities in the past five years, new research has revealed.

Deloitte Access Economics’ new report showed 83 per cent of respondents have listened to commercial radio in the past year, which is equivalent to 17 million people nationally.

The report, entitled Connecting Communities: The Economic and Social Contribution to Commercial Radio and Audio in Australia, surveyed 1000 Australians and showed the increase in the past five years was approximately 14 per cent.

Industry body Commercial Radio and Audio chair Ciaran Davis, said the results proved radio’s longevity after the industry last week celebrated 100 years in Australia.

“It has adapted to new trends, new technologies and we make sure our content is available wherever audiences want to consume it,” said Mr Davis, who is also the chief executive of ARN Media.

ARN’s brands include stations KIIS, Gold and iHeartRadio.

Mr Davis said “keeping relevant” and “maintaining connections” with audiences was vital for the industry.

“Live radio is being consumed as much as ever if not more and we are reaching over 12 million people a week which has increased every year over the last 10 years,” he said.

The report showed that the ways in which respondents listened to radio included tuning into broadcast radio (77 per cent), online radio (30 per cent) and catching up on podcasts (14 per cent). It also found the most common reasons listeners tuned into commercial radio were convenience (24 per cent), to access news and events (17 per cent) and to improve their mood and wellbeing (17 per cent).

Radio industry figureheads and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland were among those last week to attended the centenary of radio celebrations in Canberra.