Similarly, online radio apps, podcasts, and platforms like Spotify are boosting digital audio at the expense of time spent in terrestrial radio. Digital audio minutes are up more than 50% over the past five years and growth will continue throughout the rest of forecast. This year, average time spent in Canada will be 1:33 for the total population.

Listening to digital audio is also more popular than listening to the radio, although radio retains a significant share of audio time spent. This year, nearly 55% of total audio time will be spent on digital platforms (1:40), while the remaining 45% (1:23) will be spent with traditional radio. Digital first exceeded radio in 2020 and has only grown its share since. This trend will continue.

The current 7-minute gap between traditional and digital listening time (in favor of radio) will be upended by 2024, when digital will account for a minute more than traditional radio. Traditional TV will hold on as the main time drain until the end of our forecast. A renaissance in TV viewing at the height of the pandemic halted an earlier decline.

Its satellite radio division features many talk radio shows, which can be listened to on its digital app. The company also owns the streaming service Pandora, distributor Stitcher, and ad tech vendor AdsWizz.

Prior to COVID-19, we expected strong TV, radio, and OOH ad spending to bolster the traditional media market. But radio and OOH were hit particularly hard by the pandemic due to dramatic declines in commuting and foot traffic across downtown cores and transit hubs. Digital spending in Canada will be almost double what it was five years ago.

Time spent with digital audio surpassed that of radio for the first time in 2021. The gap will widen going forward. At 1 hour, 33 minutes a day on average in 2022, time spent with digital audio will be 8 minutes more than time spent with radio. The switch is related to a reduction in commuting, which has had a direct impact on terrestrial radio consumption.

Spotify is the No. 1 digital audio service among US teens and adults, with 35% digital audio listeners ages 12 and older using that platform the most. YouTube Music comes in at No. 2, with 18%, while Pandora rounds out the top three at 15%.

About two-thirds of the US population ages 12 and older listens to digital audio at least once per week, up 5 percentage points from 2021. Over the past decade, that share has grown by 38 percentage points, making the weekly listenership now 192 million strong.

More respondents now listen to online music, podcasts, audiobooks, and other digital audio options than to broadcast radio, though by a small margin. Almost three-quarters (74.9%) of internet users listened to digital audio content in the month before polling, with younger cohorts more engaged than their elders.

Broadcast radio does moderately well in Saudi Arabia. More than half (54.2%) of internet users tuned in to live radio programming in the month prior to polling in Q1 2021. Yet nearly 71% of respondents had recently streamed music or accessed podcasts or other audio content from digital sources.