MIDiA Data Spotlight: Music Listening Car Leads the Way

This is part of MIDiA’s data snapshot series in which we spotlight curated consumer datasets. 

Figure            Music Listening Mainly Happens on the Go Key Places of Listening to Music,            2018

The car has long been one of the heartlands of music listening and remains so with            of consumers engaging in this activity. There is relatively little variation in age, with penetration among            the lowest at            and            the highest at            illustrating the ubiquity of car listening, even if the listeners may not always be the car owner. With interactive dashboard penetration at            streaming still has a long wait ahead of it before it can hope to compete on equal terms with radio for in-car listening, instead relying on consumers to grapple with audio jacks and Bluetooth pairing.

With            penetration, listening to music on the phone is the second most widespread form of music listening, a testament to the rise of streaming. Here, age differences are stark, with penetration peaking at            among            and falling to a low of            among over            Phone-based music listening is firmly a youth driven activity (it is the most widespread listening mode for under            This reflects younger consumers’ higher level of comfort with tech, but also the fact they live more mobile-based lives.

Speaker-based listening at home comes in at third with            but represents a growth opportunity, with younger listeners more likely to spend more time listening at home due to a combination of uptake of connected speakers and these younger consumers spending more time at home as they age.