The Infinite Dial® Reports · May 6, 2014

“Infinite Dial 2014” Format: Rock P1s Care About Keeping Current With Music and Most Use AM/FM Radio To Do So

By Edison Research

Somerville, New Jersey — May 6, 2014  — P1 listeners to stations that play today’s Rock are aggressively interested in keeping up-to-date with music, and they turn to AM/FM radio in greater numbers than the average listener to do so.

Half of Classic Rock/Classic Hits radio P1 listeners say it is important to keep up-to-date with music.

These and other key findings are from “The Infinite Dial 2014: A Look at Rock P1s” and “A Look at Classic Rock/Classic Hits P1s.” The new reports are the latest in the continuing series of format breakouts from Edison Research’s influential “Infinite Dial” study, released in March of this year.

Rock P1s are first among any format’s partisans in saying that it is “very” or “somewhat” important to them to keep up with music (69% vs. 47% of respondents overall). Even 49% of P1s to Classic Rock/Classic Hits say that music discovery remains similarly important to them. This finding comes at a time when many Active Rock stations are decreasing their reliance on new music, and Alternative stations are just starting to increase their percentage of recent music.

While Rock P1s are often thought of as the listeners with the most choices for music discovery, 79% say they use AM/FM radio to find out about music, compared to 75% of all respondents.

Respondents to Edison Research’s 2014 “The Infinite Dial” are asked to name the radio station they listen to most, each of which is individually coded by format. The Rock breakouts are based on 91 P1s to Alternative, Active Rock, and Triple-A radio stations. There are 112 respondents who are P1 to a Classic Rock, Adult Hits, or Classic Hits station.

With Rock and Oldies/Classic Rock formats so heavily represented on satellite radio, it is also interesting to note that P1s of those formats have a slightly higher subscription rate to SiriusXM Satellite Radio, with 18% of Rock P1s and 17% of Classic Rock/Classic Hits P1s having a satellite radio subscription, vs. 15% of the overall sample.

While both formats are sometimes thought of as male-dominated, especially when “Rock” stations consider their target audience, 57% of Classic Rock/Classic Hits P1s are male, while 63% of Rock P1s are male.

Released in early March 2014 and sponsored by Triton Digital, “The Infinite Dial” surveyed more than 2,000 respondents aged 12 and older. Now in its twenty-second edition, “The Infinite Dial” has become digital audio’s annual report card. The format reports contain further information about device usage, Online Radio listening, social networking, and more.

Download “The Infinite Dial 2014: A Look at Rock P1s” here.

Download “The Infinite Dial 2014: A Look at Classic Rock/Classic Hits P1s” here.

The full “Infinite Dial 2014” study is available here.

About Edison Research:
Edison Research conducts survey research and provides strategic information to a broad array of clients, including Activision, AMC Theatres, Disney, Dolby Laboratories, Google, Gulf News, the U.S. International Broadcasting Bureau, Pandora, Samsung, Siemens, Sony, Time Warner and Yahoo. Edison Research works with many of the largest American radio ownership groups, including Bonneville, Emmis, Entercom, CBS Radio and Radio One. Another specialty for Edison is its work for media companies throughout the world, conducting research in North America, South America, Africa, Asia, and Europe. Edison Research is the sole provider of election exit poll data for the National Election Pool comprised of ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX, NBC and the Associated Press. Edison is also the leading provider of consumer exit polling and has conducted face-to-face research in almost every imaginable venue.

About Triton Digital:
Triton Digital® is a mid-stage technology company focused on the digital audio industry. More leading publishers – including CBS, Pandora, Entercom and Slacker – use the Triton platform to enrich their content and deliver it to a global audience than that of any other company. Triton’s Webcast Metrics product is the MRC-accredited industry standard in digital audio measurement. Its Ad Injector technology delivers billions of impressions to millions of streams each month. Its ad exchange, a2x, is the only programmatic audience buying platform for audio and has broad adoption across both publishers and agencies. Triton Digital creates meaningful, amplified connections between audio, audience, and advertisers.

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