Radio Reports from MIDiA Research

Music discovery snapshot Q4 2024
Breaking through the noise

Cover image for Music discovery snapshot Q4 2024

Olivia Jones

March 2025

Breaking through the noise is more important than ever for artists. As passive listening grows, facilitating active discovery has become a challenge. On top of this, the way consumers discover music is...

Before and after podcasts
Mapping the podcast listener journey

Cover image for Before and after podcasts

Rutger Rosenborg

January 2025

US

UK

France

The global importance of video for podcasting extends into the unique market dynamics of the US, UK, France, Mexico, and Japan. Not only does this justify Spotify’s strategic video push, but it also...

Socioeconomics of podcast listening
Engaging a higher value audience

Cover image for Socioeconomics of podcast listening

Rutger Rosenborg

October 2024

Creators

Subscriptions

Radio

Podcasts alone will struggle to monetise via subscriptions, leaving advertising as podcasts’ key source of revenue for the foreseeable future. However, podcasts do attract high-earning, high-spending...

Audio substitute threat
Measuring consumer time allocation

Rutger Rosenborg

February 2024

Streaming

cannibalization

Radio

All forms of entertainment compete not only for the same time, but increasingly for the same digital real estate. As audio streaming platforms move towards all-in-one access to multiple formats, both platforms...

Radio WAUs
Blurring broadcast lines

Annie Langston

July 2023

Spotify

Radio

iHeart

The radio industry has traditionally thought in terms of monthly audiences and reach rather than engagement. It is time for the radio industry to start thinking in terms of weekly engagement so that it...

Podcasts and radio
How radio can play by its own rules

Annie Langston

March 2023

Spotify

live

Radio

Radio set the stage for music streaming and podcasts, only to watch them take portions of its audience. However, there is a clear opportunity for radio companies to assert themselves in the podcast market,...

The global podcast opportunity
Unlocking format growth

Cover image for The global podcast opportunity

Annie Langston

November 2022

Sweden

Spotify

While mainstream media tends to focus on podcast growth in Western territories, understanding digital-audio consumption on a global scale will be key to future growth. Each territory has unique listener...

Closing the background gap
Focused versus background audio listening

Cover image for Closing the background gap

Kriss Thakrar, Tatiana Cirisano and Annie Langston

November 2022

Spotify

Radio

YouTube

The rise of attention inflation means that consumers are maximising their limited time by multitasking between various formats, spurring a rise in background consumption. This creates a “new” space...

Podcast market value chain
The next investment is the listeners

Cover image for Podcast market value chain

Annie Langston

October 2022

Creators

Apple

Spotify

Investments from major audience platforms in audio infrastructure, such as hosting platforms and advertising, kickstarted the growth of the podcast market. With the basic infrastructure now in place, it...

Radio audiences
A window of opportunity

Mark Mulligan, Keith Jopling, Tatiana Cirisano and Annie Langston

September 2022

Streaming Music

Spotify

Radio

Streaming claimed radio’s younger, music-focused audiences while podcasts are now beginning to do the same for older, spoken-word audiences. However, it is not yet determined that the impact needs to...

Music consumer survey, Q3 2021
A new generation leans forward

Cover image for Music consumer survey, Q3 2021

Tatiana Cirisano

February 2022

Creators

Radio

radio audiences

As streaming subscriptions rise and music increasingly competes with other forms of media for consumers’ limited attention spans, lean-back listening activities are taking precedence over those which...

Audio audiences
Steady change

Mark Mulligan, Tatiana Cirisano and Annie Langston

February 2022

Radio

radio audiences

music radio

Podcasts reinvigorated the audio market, bringing with it the promise of a ‘Netflix moment’ for radio. Though podcast audience growth has not kept pace with industry interest and hype, podcasts have...

Attention economy
After the lockdown boom

Mark Mulligan

November 2021

Consumer behaviour

Streaming Music

Radio

The pandemic-triggered change in everyday life resulted in a boom in entertainment consumption, which, in turn, saw growth in emerging formats as well as a temporary rebound for traditional formats. As...

Media consumption
Lockdown’s attention boom

Mark Mulligan

February 2021

Consumer behaviour

Spotify

2020 was a year like no other. With large swathes of the population confined to their homes for portions of the year, audiences had more time on their hands and more money in their pockets. These conditions...

Attention Economy
Media Consumption Q2 2020

Mark Mulligan

July 2020

Streaming

Music Subscriptions

US

This report presents MIDiA’s Q2 2020 media consumption data, exploring time and money spent by consumers during the quarter. As such, it presents a snapshot of consumer behaviour that reflects both the...

Music Consumer Survey
Country Snapshots

Mark Mulligan

March 2020

Consumer behaviour

Streaming

US

Music consumer survey country snapshots for US, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, Spain, and Sweden.

State of the Podcast Nation

Mark Mulligan

July 2019

Apple

Spotify

Radio

Podcasts are an overnight success many years in the making. Podcasts were first added to Apple’s iTunes ecosystem in 2005, only to then spend a long time in the shadows. Now, however, they occupy the...

Digital Consumer Ad Profiles
Targeting Music and Video Streamers

Cover image for Digital Consumer Ad Profiles

Georgia Meyer

January 2019

Spotify

Radio

YouTube

Digital music and video consumers navigate an increasingly nuanced landscape of content formats, from paywalled to ad-supported to social. Levels of engagement with new social formats vary considerably...

Radio 2018
Streaming’s Continuing Impact

Mark Mulligan

October 2018

Streaming

Streaming Music

Spotify

This is a 2018 update to MIDiA’s 2017 report exploring the impact of streaming on radio audiences. The underlying data comes from MIDiA’s quarterly consumer tracker which was first fielded in Q4 2016....

MIDiA Data Spotlight: Video Piracy
P2P Holding on in Emerging Markets

Cover image for MIDiA Data Spotlight: Video Piracy

Tim Mulligan

October 2018

Video

Radio

video piracy

This is part of MIDiA’s data snapshot series in which we spotlight curated consumer datasets. Figure 1: P2P Video Piracy is Relegated to Niche Audiences in Developed Markets but Still Has...

Reports: Radio