Infinite Dial Takeaways

Edison Research and Triton Digital published their annual Infinite Dial today, which is the longest-running survey of digital media in the US (started in 1998).

A big story continues to be Audio. Radio is still very dominant while podcasting, SiriusXM and smart speakers all continue to grow. Diving Deeper on Podcasting: 75% of Americans are now familiar with them and 37% listen on a monthly basis. This means that more than 100 million people listen to podcasts monthly, which is pretty incredible growth. I would note that, especially in the last 12 months, podcasting has had some prime real-estate promotion: Cable news networks promoting podcasts, Spotify making huge acquisitions, iHeartRadio promoting podcasts (a lot) on all of their radio stations, etc., so it’s unlikely this growth will slow down anytime soon. (150 million or bust!)

I was also impressed by the continued growth of Instagram, which other than TikTok and WhatsApp, was the only social network to show any meaningful growth in the survey. Instagram was especially strong in ages 12–34, where it is now the most popular social media network, edging out Facebook and Snapchat.

You can (and should) view the entire survey here but here are some bullets:

(Note: All % of the Population is 12+ unless otherwise noted)

Devices:

• Smartphone Ownership: 85%, up slightly
• Tablet Ownership: 53%, down from 56%
• Smart Watch Ownership: Flat at 17%
• Smart Speaker Ownership: 27%, up from 23%
• Radio Ownership: 32% of households have no radios, up from 21% in 2016
• Radio Ownership 18–34: 52% do not own a radio

Social Media

• 80% use social media
• Facebook Usage: Flat at 63%
• Instagram Usage: 41%, up from 39%
• Snapchat, Pinterest, Linkedin, Twitter all fairly flat (31%, 29%, 22%, 21%)
• TikTok Usage: 11%

Audio in Car

• Radio Usage is dominant, yet flat: 81%
• Digital Music Usage: 48%, up from 45%
• Podcasts Usage: 28%, up from 26%
• SiriusXM growing, too: 24%, up from 22%
• Apple Carplay = 9%, Android Auto = 5%

Podcasts

• 75% are now familiar with podcasts
• 37% now listen on a monthly basis (up from 32%)
• 24% now listen on a weekly basis (up from 22%)