AM/FM radio continues to be the largest source of audio listening for Canadians, according to the Radio On The Move Fall 2022 Share of Audio Update, from Signal Hill Insights and Radio Connects.

Consistent with time spent listening in spring 2022, AM/FM’s share of time spent with audio was at 39%, according to the online panel survey of 3,114 Canadians, 18+, conducted by Maru Voice Canada. Podcasts (7%) and free ad-supported music streaming (6%) were each down one point, while paid music streaming was up one point (14%).

With more workers returning to the office, out-of-home tuning was up on smartphones (from 27% in April to 32%) and on personal computers (up four points to 35%). Radio’s share of in-car tuning rose to 62%, up from 59% in the spring report.

Radio on the Move says the reach of ad-free music streaming continues to grow (up from 23% in spring 2021 to 25% in the fall survey), while reach of ad-supported streaming has fallen from 22 to 18% over the same period. According to the study, AM/FM is continuing to deliver greater weekly reach than free ad-supported Spotify, across all key demos.

One of the survey’s other insights is that the majority of music streamers are also radio listeners with 79% of those using online music streaming services or YouTube for music in the past week also tuning AM/FM radio on a typical weekday. Sixteen per cent are “heavy” AM/FM listeners, tuning for more than two hours on a typical weekday.

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