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  The 2024 Irish Audio Report reveals there is universal listening to audio content with 97% of adults listening every week. Live radio dominates with a 76% share of total audio listening while on-demand audio has a 24% share.  

 Against a backdrop of significant competition for attention in the audiovisual sector, there is almost universal engagement in audio with 97% of adults, 4.2 million people, listening to audio each week.

 Live radio continues to dominate, accounting for 76% of all audio listening. This is followed by music streaming with a 11.7% share while YouTube Music has a 5.9% share and podcasts a 3.4% share of audio listening. For the young 15 to 24 year old age cohort, live radio accounts for 46% of total listening, followed by music streaming services with a 31% share of listening. For this younger group, they spend 12% of their listening time with YouTube Music and 3% of their time listening to podcasts.

Audiences tend to listen to on-demand audio for shorter periods of time.  The opposite is true for radio –more people listen to radio and stay tuned in for longer.  This naturally impacts the share of total listening, where live radio achieves the largest share.

 Irish audiences are highly connected – ownership of smart phones (92%), bluetooth wireless headphones (55%) and smart speakers (44%) enable easy access to audio content.

 For people who use a music streaming service, 66% of them subscribe to a paid ad free service while for YouTube Music listeners, 22% of them pay for the ad free service option.

 Most listening to audio content happens in the home with seven-in-ten (71%) listening to audio at home on an average day. More than two-in-five people (43%) listen in the car on an average day and this has increased steadily since 2021 (+9% points), no doubt reflecting the post-Covid environment.

You can download the full Irish Audio Report 2024 by clicking the button below and you can also watch a webinar witch summarises the key findings.

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