OTTAWA — Seven in 10 Canadians listen to commercial radio on at least a weekly basis, with 39% saying they listen daily, according to a new report prepared by Ipsos Public Affairs on behalf of the CRTC.
In comparison, 39% of Canadians surveyed for the report said they listen to streaming music services on a weekly basis, while 32% said they listen weekly to CBC/Radio-Canada. The next two most-popular audio formats were podcasts (22% said they listened on a weekly basis) and satellite radio (17%).
According to the report, a car radio is by far the most commonly used device to listen to commercial radio (80%), followed by a traditional radio (38%). Relatively few survey respondents said they listen to commercial radio on other devices such as computers, smartphones or home speakers, says the report.
Among those surveyed, commercial radio is considered the most important audio broadcast platform to have access to (45% rating it 8-10 in importance on a 10-point scale), specifically for the music (64%) and local news content (57%). Other important aspects of commercial radio include having access to weather (51%), national news (48%), and to a lesser extent international news (40%).
When asked about the importance of other audio platforms, considerably fewer respondents said having access to CBC/Radio-Canada was particularly important to them (28%), followed by streaming music services (28%), podcasts (19%) and satellite radio (15%).
Commercial radio listeners are generally satisfied with the listening experience (47% rating it 8-10 on a 10-point scale) and positive impressions are strongest for the availability of programming in listeners’ preferred language (66%) and the quality (48%) and frequency of information (45%), according to the report. The fact commercial radio is free is by far the aspect Canadians like most about it (60%), followed by the convenience and simplicity (30%), the connection it gives listeners to their local community (30%), variety of music genres (27%) and being a reliable source of information (26%).
When it comes to the variety of programming on commercial radio, most Canadians surveyed said they feel commercial radio is too focused on popular music (51% strongly/somewhat agree). The most common suggested areas for improvement include having fewer commercials (43%), more diverse musical content (32%), more local content (20%) and more timely news coverage (18%).
According to the report, support for current Canadian content and French-language music rules for commercial radio is strong and highest for popular music (60% strongly/somewhat support) and French-language music (60% among Francophones), followed by special interest music rules (53%).
Most of those surveyed also agree streaming music services should be required to support the Canadian broadcast sector (53% strongly/somewhat agree), but the majority also said any future regulations should not interfere with consumers’ ability to choose the content they want (68%).
Ipsos’ research report is based on the results of a series of focus groups conducted with 88 total participants between March 19 and 31, 2020, and an online survey of 1,735 Canadians 18 years of age or older between November 12 and 26, 2020.
For the full report, please click here.
