Streaming Audio Accounts for Just 34% of Listening, Edison Report Says

Photo Credit: Viktor Forgacs

A new research report suggests U.S. listeners age 13+ spend around 20% of their listening time streaming music and 14% on YouTube—for a combined 34% share of time spent listening to audio.AM/FM radio remains king for the U.S. population, with 36% of people still preferring that format for their audio listening. Digital service providers (DSPs) like Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, and Tidal all account for that 20% of time listening to audio figure. Meanwhile, YouTube is by itself in a category of its own—commanding 14% of time listened to audio. While it’s unclear in the graph, the 14% figure is for YouTube & YouTube Music together.

Photo Credit: Edison Research ‘Share of Ear’ report

Podcasts are the third-most listened to category for audio consumption, garnering around 11% of time listened. That number has risen since Spotify’s focus on expanding the podcast space, which may explain why the audio giant has its sights set on the audiobooks market now.Audiobooks accounted for just 3% of audio listening, which Spotify obviously thinks it can grow. Will audiobook listening ever crack the double-digit listening percentage? Perhaps with a big enough push from a major DSP like Spotify—since Amazon’s Audible has dominated the audiobook scene for more than a decade.

Satellite radio provider SiriusXM accounted for 8% of listening, although the giant is pivoting towards DSP status with its revamp focusing on its music streaming apps rather than its car radio segment.

Owned music and TV music channels accounted for less than 5% of listening time, highlighting that while physical formats may be on the rise in terms of sales—they still have very little impact on American listening habits in 2023.

Edison Research based its data on Q1-Q4 2023 audio listening habits and notes that AM/FM radio fell one point to 36%, so while it still dominates it is losing traction in the face of music streaming. Music streaming gained that one point to reach 20% of share for the first time in the history of the ‘Share of Ear’ audio report began sharing data in 2014—its tenth year of existence.