According to Edison Research’s third quarter 2016 Share of Ear study, local broadcast radio remains far out in front of a growing field of audio entertainment sources. Americans spent 50% of their audio time with AM/FM radio in Q3. Listening to YouTube music videos finished second at 7.6%, Pandora 6.3%, and Spotify 3.7%.

There is a steady decline in the amount of time spent with personally owned music. As more listeners spend less on purchasing music and more on renting it from on-demand services. The share of audio time spent with owned music has dropped from 15.1% last year to 13.8%, putting it a distant second behind AM/FM radio. After that, it’s music videos on YouTube (8%), ad-supported Pandora (6%), ad-free SiriusXM Radio (5%), music channels on TV (5%) and other streaming audio (4%). Ad-supported Spotify, “other” and podcasts each had 2% apiece while ad-free Pandora, ad-free Spotify and ad-supported SiriusXM each garnered 1%.

Edison’s Share of Ear study tracks how many Americans use each audio source and the share of time spent with each platform. The methodology involves 2,000 respondents keeping a 24-hour log to record audio usage each quarter. Each quarterly study reflects 8,000 respondents, representing a rolling four-quarter average.

Source/Credit: Inside Radio