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Highlights from the 2018 Infinite Dial Study

Written by Desideria Mastriaco | Mar 8, 2018 5:00:00 AM

On March 8th, we unveiled the results of The 2018 Infinite Dial Study alongside our friends at Edison Research

The two most talked-about sectors in digital audio today - podcasting and smart speakers - posted significant gains in this year’s study.

Podcasting continues to steadily grow, as 44% of Americans 12+ now say they have ever listened to a podcast, up from 40% from last year

Podcasting’s in-car gains continue as well: a year ago, 18% of podcast listeners described the car as the place they most often listened to podcasts; this year, that number is 22%.

This year’s report also demonstrated the continued growth of smart speakers,  such as the Amazon Echo and Google Home devices. Today, 18% of Americans 12+ (an estimated 51 Million people), live in households that have at least one smart speaker. This means that smart speaker ownership has more than doubled from 7% just one year ago, which shows smart speaker adoption at a faster rate than the early days of the smartphone, which showed only 4% growth in a comparable timeframe.

Among the many other highlights:

  • Weekly Online Audio Listening is now 160 million Americans, or 57% of Americans 12+, due to growth in Spotify, Apple Music and Alexa-driven Amazon Music listening
  • Despite the rise of other services, Pandora continues to lead in the online radio space—31% of Americans have listened in the past month
  • The portion of Americans 12+ using Facebook has declined from 67% to 62%
  • As smart speaker ownership rises (18% of Americans own a Smart Speaker), there is a continued decline in standalone radio ownership (29% do not own an AM/FM radio in the home)
  • 44% of Americans 18+ have ever listened to an audiobook

For more insightful data from the 2018 Infinite Dial, Download the Presentation or view the Facebook Live Recording.

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