Audioland: Australian podcast consumption increasing on all fronts according to Infinite Dial findings

At Mumbrella’s Audioland event yesterday, Bec Alexander, Southern Cross Austereo’s campaign strategy director, and Commercial Radio and Audio CEO Ford Ennals, handed down exclusive early results from the 2023 Infinite Dial study.

The Infinite Dial survey provides a singular view of global audio consumption and consumer behaviours. Locally, Australia is reaching similar podcast numbers to the US, and Alexander says this can be attributed to audio providing relief from visual mediums.

“People are tuning in because audio provides them an escape from an overly stimulating visual world,” Alexander said. “Sometimes the visual mediums are overwhelming… The doom scrolling, the curated Instagram photo dumps, the TikTok dances, and the Facebook comments from your aunt that really should have been a DM.

“It’s this type of psychology that we’re seeing reflected in the Infinite Dial numbers this year,” she said.

Radio consumption is increasing on all formats according to the early findings, and the mediums are diversifying.

Commercial radio has remained a stagnant format with 76% of respondents consuming it, while DAB radio has increased from 19% in 2022, to 32% this year. Similarly, catch-up radio/podcasts has increased from 45% to 57%.

Listenership has also seen changes, as Generation Z has increased consumption, with 51% of 12-17 years old consuming DAB radio weekly, as well as 35% of 18-24 year olds.

Alexander says these large numbers come from decision fatigue: “They want to be able to give up control and just listen to something.”

77% of 12-17 year olds consume weekly AM/FM radio, as do 70% of 18-24 year olds.

Alexander said audience-centric content is key, as “regular people with mics are actually driving strong downloads”.

Monthly, Australian online audio listeners have peaked at 81% of respondents.

Weekly podcast listenership is up 35% year-on-year, and daily is up 15%. On average, an Australian listens to five podcast episodes a week, meaning they are spending 23 full days of the year listening to podcasts.