Multicultural Audiences Show Strong Appetites for Music Streaming Services

July 26, 2018

Radio continues to be “the top reach vehicle” for both Black and Hispanic adults, declares Nielsen in a recent report [download page], noting that among people ages 12 and older, Black and Hispanic consumers make up more than 30% of the national radio audience. The study also reveals that as the audio landscape broadens, Black and Hispanic adults are showing strong interest in newer ways to listen to audio.

Citing a survey it conducted in Q1, Nielsen demonstrates that Black and Hispanic adults are not only more likely than White adults to be using audio streaming services but also to have interest in using or subscribing to one.

Specifically, fully 52% of Black consumers surveyed said they currently use streaming services for music, radio, and podcasts, as did 45% of Hispanic consumers. By comparison, 4 in 10 White consumers reported using such streaming services.

Likewise, whereas roughly 1 in 4 White consumers expressed being very or somewhat interested in using or subscribing to an audio streaming service, that figure jumped to more than one-third of Black (36%) and Hispanic (35%) respondents.

Music streaming continues to surge, according to separate recently-released Nielsen data, fueling an overall rise in music consumption. Streaming services have certainly enjoyed a rise in interest, with a tripling in paid subscriptions between 2015 (10.8 million) and 2017 (35.3 million), per RIAA data.

Indeed, more subscription users pay for a music subscription than any other category save for video, with music subscriptions used about as frequently as video ones, according to new research [download page] from Fetch.

As Nielsen’s data indicates, multicultural consumers seem to be leading the charge in terms of streaming audio use and interest. That tallies with research from MarketingCharts: in the latest annual US Media Audience Demographics report, internet radio had a strong over-representation of Hispanics, and Black adults over-indexed in their listening, too. In fact, internet radio had a more diverse audience representation than any other digital media type analyzed for the report.

Other Study Highlights

Some other notable findings from Nielsen’s Audio Today report follow.

  • 32 million Black consumers use the radio each week as of June 2018, with listeners skewing to females (53%) over males (47%). Black listeners spend about 13-and-a-half hours per week with the radio, the most of any ethnicity.
  • Urban Adult Contemporary was the top overall radio format for Black listeners in 2017, followed by Urban Contemporary.
  • McDonald’s was the top advertiser on urban and rhythmic radio in 2017, with $10.8 million in ad spend in PPM markets.
  • 42 million Hispanic consumers use the radio each week as of June 2018, with listeners skewing to males (53%) over females (47%). Hispanic listeners spend 12-and-three-quarter hours per week with the radio.
  • Mexican Regional was the top overall radio format for Hispanic listeners in 2017, though Pop Contemporary Hit Radio was tops with Hispanic teens (12-17).
  • Metro PCS was the top advertiser on Mexican regional and Spanish radio in 2017, with its $7.4 million in ad spend in PPM markets just edging McDonald’s ($7.3 million).

The full report is available for download here.

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