Tuning into Kiwis’ changing listening habits

Following a recent survey of the country’s digital audio landscape, The Infinite Dial New Zealand report highlighted some interesting findings on technology uptake and consumption. Here, the man behind the research, and Edison Research President Larry Rosin, unpacks the findings in relation to other markets.

When it comes to consuming audio and the technology used to do so, Kiwis have been slower on the uptake of new media devices when compared to their counterparts in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Despite a pretty high rate of smart phone ownership (92 percent of people aged 16+; and 99 percent with those aged 16-34), tablet ownership is slightly down, and smart speaker ownership significantly lower when compared to these same markets.

More specifically, findings among New Zealanders aged 16+ point to 20 percent of Kiwis owning a smart speaker. This is compared to 35 and 27 percent ownership in the US and Australia respectively. Of those in New Zealand who own a smart speaker 14 percent have a Google Home device, 10 percent use Amazon Alexa, and 2 percent use Apple HomePod.

Kiwis aged 16-34 are slightly more likely to adopt this technology with the research showing that 26 percent of this group own a smart speaker. And when it comes to the listening habits of this age demographic, 86 percent have listened to online audio in the last week, and 41 percent have listened to a podcast in the last week. Despite the availability of digital audio, the majority of young New Zealanders are still choosing radio, as 69 percent reporting they listened to radio in the past week.

For Larry Rosin, a correlation can be drawn between Kiwi’s listening and consumption habits and the technology they use. 

“There are two or three outtakes from this research. The first being that New Zealand is way behind in terms of smart speakers compared to other countries. But audio consumption, particularly podcasts which surprised us, was right up there at the top of the tree ahead of everyone else. The strength of the New Zealand audio scene was really a big find,” Rosin says.

He believes the low rate of smart speaker ownership among Kiwis is due to a late introduction of the technology to the market, but anticipates that it will catch up as it has done in other international markets. In the US alone, smart speaker adoption has grown by 21 percent over a five-year period since 2018.

In New Zealand, a smartphone, tablet, or other portable audio players rank high as listening devices, with 74 percent of survey respondents indicating use.

The high level of podcast consumption in New Zealand (39 percent of those aged 16+ compared to 38 and 40 percent in the US and Australia respectively), Rosin says, goes hand in hand with the high level of smartphone ownership, “because it’s easy”. And he again expects this trend to increase in the years to come, in line with other markets.

For advertisers, Rosin says, this change in technology and how we consume digital audio opens up “a lot of new opportunities and capabilities” for both broadcasters and advertisers to have a bigger impact when reaching audiences.

Click here to learn more about The Infinite Dial New Zealand research and keep an eye out for more articles published daily across Radio Week (November 21-25), as part of our exclusive content series in partnership with The Radio Bureau.

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