Listeners
The 2008 McNair Ingenuity Community Broadcasting National Listener Survey shows that community radio has established a loyal following of listeners that continues to grow each year, with 57 per cent of Australians aged 15 and over tuning into community radio each month. This result represents a substantial increase in listenership since 2006. In fact, you could say the number of Australians listening to community radio has exploded, with a 10 per cent rise in listenership from 47% to 57% per month in only two years.
- 2004 – 7,054,000 (45%)
- 2006 – 7,515,000 (47%)
- 2008 – 9,562,000 (57%)
This increase is of particular interest given that overall monthly radio listenership and commercial radio listenership have levelled off in recent years. This demonstrates the deepening relevance of community radio to local audiences during a time of rapid media and social change.
Community radio audiences are not just extensive, they are dedicated. Listeners tune in for an average of 7.8 hours a week, and a total of 717,000 Australians are exclusive listeners to our services (i.e. they listen to community radio but not commercial radio and ABC/SBS).
The McNair Ingenuity survey results show that many people are choosing to tune into their local community radio station for the localised content, specialist programs and Australian music that is on offer. Specifically, listeners say that they listen because they like to hear specialist music programs (55%), they value the provision of local information/local news (53%), they hear local voices/local personalities (42%), and because they hear Australian music appreciate that community radio stations support local artists (46%).
These results reinforce findings of a national qualitative audience study conducted by Griffith University, Community Media Matters, in which participants indicated that local and specialist content were key reasons for listening to community radio. This report also showed that listeners enjoyed community radio because they liked the laidback, ‘ordinary person’ presentation style and because they perceive community radio to be accessible and approachable (Griffith 2007).
One of the key qualities of community radio is its potential to encompass and reflect the diverse nature of Australian society through varied and specialised programming. It is not surprising then to find that it draws audiences from a wide cross section of the community. The McNair Ingenuity survey revealed that least 23% of most demographic groups tuning in regularly. Listenership is spread across age all groups, with around one-quarter of all people in each age group listening to community radio.
While community radio necessarily seeks niche rather than mass audiences, the results of the 2008 Community Broadcasting National Listener Survey have verified that the sector’s collective national reach is substantial and growing.