survey

New research from Vision Critical for Clear Channel suggests that while Americans love and use their smartphones more and more, we haven't yet let go of computers. Respondents to the study indicated they'd rather keep their computer and give up their TV, smartphone, and tablet if they could only use one device for a year.

Perhaps also surprising was the finding that women are actually more likely than men to own smartphones and tablets: 52% of women have smartphones compared to just 43% of men, while 31% of women have a tablet or e-reader versus 25% of men.

The study also found that over 70% of those who stream live radio on their smartphones have streamed a live radio station from a different locale than where they live. 59% of respondents have been online while listening to music, and even 25% of respondents watch TV and listen to music at the same time. Finally, 59% say they use music rather than TV (39%) when they are "looking to change their mood."

The online survey was conducted by Vision Critical May 17-18, 2013 among 1,008 Americans ages 18 and over, in association with Clear Channel Media & Entertainment.

Vision Critical's new research indicates Pandora listeners spend more time listening to broadcast radio than non-Pandora listeners. What's more, on average, Pandora listeners' say their time spent with AM/FM radio has held steady over the last two years.

The charts from the research summary show that while non-Pandora users in the U.S. report spending just under 13 hours a week listening to broadcast, the average Pandora user tops 19 hours a week with terrestrial radio -- 50% more than the non-Pandora fan. The second chart shows that even over time, the average Pandora user reports spending slightly more time with AM/FM now than 2 years ago (or at least, is not spending significantly less time with AM/FM).

It's probably not controversial to say the typical Pandora listener is more comfortable with technology than the average person. So, perhaps it's not surprising the survey revealed Pandora listeners as much more likely to listen to AM/FM on digital devices than non-Pandora listeners.

A recent NPD Group study (here) seemed to show Net radio usage is cutting into music listening on more traditional media -- including AM/FM. Note that the Vision Critical study didn't ask about the format of respondents' on-air listening (music, news, talk, sports, etc.).

Pandora listeners in another recent survey (conducted on the webcaster's behalf) strongly favored the service over AM/FM regarding which was more "unique and different," "innovative," "engaging," and "connects me withe the music I love" (study here). But Pandora listeners told Vision Critical AM/FM has the edge in "easy," "convenient," and "helps me feel connected."

Vancouver-based Vision Critical surveyed more than one-thousand U.S. adults for the Canadian Association of Radio Broadcasters, "to better understand the potential impact on Canadian radio tuning in the event that Pandora, or a service like it, is launched in Canada."

See the Vision Critical summary report, "What Pandora Means for Radio," here.

RAIN Analysis: Naturally, we wanted to follow up on this with Vision Critical SVP Jeff Vidler. After all, the results of this study seem counterintuitive in light of Arbitron reports showing radio listening per capita declining -- declines that seem to correspond Pandora's gains.

Vidler suggested three hypotheses:

1. Interest in music is not a "zero sum" game. Flash back 100+ years ago and the consensus was that recorded music would kill live music performance. Then, radio was going to kill the recorded music industry. Then, in-car 8-tracks/cassettes/CDs were going to kill radio. But today, music is bigger than ever. Each new technology and platform simply provides a new way and a new reason for music fans to indulge in music — it’s additive. So it would seem to be for Pandora.

2. The enduring lure of broadcast radio is connection, not music. Pandora listeners, like most other folks, want to feel connected to other people, to what’s going on in their community and elsewhere. Broadcast radio does a great job at that. And, as music fans, they also want to feel connected to the music that other people like. Broadcast radio performs well there too. (The recent success of CHR radio may be the best evidence of this.) So, on this basis, it’s not that surprising that they might be above-average listeners to broadcast radio.

3. Arbitron isn’t capturing the full gamut of online AM/FM tuning. Do PPM meter-keepers, who listen through their headphones on their PC at work, or on the app on their smartphone, always remember to plug in their headphone insert? The study indicates that Pandora listeners are way above-average in listening to AM/FM on digital platforms, so it’s possible that Arbitron may not be capturing all their listening."

All three hypotheses make sense. The third is particularly interesting -- maybe apparent losses in per-capita AM/FM listening in recent years are really just an artifact of increases in headphone-based listening! -- KH

Alan Burns and Associates have more to share from their survey of women radio listeners (find RAIN's earlier coverage here), and it has to do with in-car web music listening.

Nearly one in four women said they access web content in their cars weekly and 16% do so every day. Among those who have built-in web access, around 50% use the Internet in-car daily. It's not clear if that includes systems like Ford SYNC, which technically don't connect to the web without a smartphone.

Women surveyed cited not having web access in their cars as the #1 reason for not listening to Pandora and other web radio services more.

Alan Burns and Associates says the female radio listeners they surved "who already have in-car access still listen to [terrestrial] radio more often than anything else in the car, and just as often as other women."

Alan Burns and Associates will present more info in a free webinar, presented by Trition Digital, tomorrow at 3:30pm Eastern. Registration can be found here.

"Ninety percent of my friends stream music. To be honest, I haven't seen someone use iTunes in a really long time... The last time I bought a CD was probably in middle school, and I can't even remember what it was."

So said Sean Wilson, a 21-year-old resident of Atlanta, Georgia. He's one of the examples of what CNN calls "a looming sea change for the music industry," in which "more and more [college-age music fans] are choosing to stream music instead of downloading it."

"If I could reliably stream music for free to all of my portable devices I would use streaming sites exclusively," a 23-year-old said. Evolver.fm's Eliot Van Buskirk told CNN, "There is a certain relief with not having to own music. It is a lot of work."

CNN ponders (here), "the growth of music apps, online radio channels, and music-streaming platforms raise an even larger question: Do we really need to 'own' music anymore?"

Media researcher Mark Kassof today published results of a recent survey he took of adult (18-64) Pandora listeners. In a nutshell, he asked these listeners to score various music experiences on a "1-to-5" scale on how similar or different they were from Pandora (these included Clear Channel's iHeartRadio Internet radio service, the on-demand Spotify service, SiriusXM satellite radio, iPod/mp3 listening, FM radio, compact discs, and YouTube).

Of the nearly 1,200 Pandora listeners in the survey, 95% of them had an opinion when it came to Pandora vs. FM radio. Of that group, nearly half (49%) scored the difference as a "1" or a "2" (a "1" means "totally different").

So, we're at about 548 Pandora listeners now -- all of whom perceive a significant difference between Pandora and FM radio. Kasof asked them, "In what way or ways is FM radio different than Pandora?" By far, the most popular responses (besides "Other" which Kasof said was 30%) were "Not as much choice in listening" (31%) and "More/too many commercials" (26%). No other response scored higher than 8%, most were about 4%.

So, Pandora listeners say the significant differences between the service and FM is "choice" (select genre, choose artists, skip songs, etc.) and spot load. Surprise, right? Naturally, these differences -- perceived as negative -- made a majority of these Pandora listeners regard FM radio as "worse to listen to" than Pandora. Again, no big surprise. (Actually, only 76% said these differences made FM radio worse... 11% said these differences made FM radio better! Wha?)

Nevertheless, most of FM’s differences are clearly negative for these Pandora listeners (we are talking to Pandora listeners, after all).

Here we want to point to Kassof's conclusion:

"They think FM is either totally different or very different. They represent nearly half of Pandora listeners. They overwhelmingly think Pandora is better.

"So, Pandora may not be radio, but that doesn’t make it any less of a challenge to radio. "The question is: How does radio meet this challenge?"

So there it is. Call Pandora "radio," call it a "soulless celestial jukebox/playlist generator," call it a "ham sandwich." It doesn't matter. If it's a rival station, a new online service, or a small white rectangle in your pocket that radio is now competing against for listeners, radio needs to address it. Listeners certainly aren't concerned whether Pandora is "radio" or not.

Read Mark Kassof's blog post here.

More than half of Country radio P1s have heard of Pandora, according to new data from Edison Research. About the same percentage point to DJs as one of AM/FM's primary advantages over Internet radio.

The information was presented yesterday by Edison Co-founder and President Larry Rosin at the Country Radio Seminar.

Edison's survey of 1,000 Country radio fans found that 53% of P1s had heard of Pandora and 6% "frequently" listen to it. Comparitively, 64% of non-Country P1s had heard of Pandora and 13% use it frequently (both compared to 67%/56% who say they listen to AM/FM frequently, respectively).

The survey also asked respondents about iHeartRadio: 23% of Country P1s had heard of the service, with 2% using it frequently. For non-Country P1s, the percentages were 31% and 2%. Finally, 8% of Country P1s had heard of Spotiy, compared to 15% of non-Country P1s.

What keeps Country radio fans listening to AM/FM stations? "Live, local DJs are one of the big advantages that radio has over Internet and satellite outlets... Both P1s and non-P1s are generally equally as enthusiastic about DJs. Half of both groups say that DJs are a prime reason that AM/FM radio is better than internet radio," said Rosin.

"I have watched with bemusement as the radio industry has engaged in a philosophical discussion of 'what is radio?' Who cares? DJs, in my opinion, are the only real competitive advantage we have [in terrestrial radio]. Every time we voice track a daypart or fire an air personality, we are shaving away our competitive advantage."

You can find more coverage in Radio-Info here. Edison Research has posted its presentation slides and videos online here.