People are learning how easy it is to listen to radio stations on many devices: Paul Jackson

Paul Jackson from Nova Entertainment says this survey still reflects some lockdown conditions in Australia’s biggest cities but by next survey he expects there will be a change back towards normal listening habits.

When and why people listen is part of their ingrained habits which Jackson thinks won’t change too much, but what is changing is how they listen, he told Radio Today after yesterday’s survey results.

Covid disruptions have caused the acceleration of a trend that has been happening for a while – people are still listening to live radio, but they are consuming it on a range of different devices now.

“You know, people will still be doing the school run with the kids in the morning, they will return to doing their usual things… Maybe they will do a couple of days a week working from home, so there may be some degree of change, but whether you’re at home with your laptop or in the office, the radio will still be going in the background… the habit is the habit.”

While the medium of listening may change, Jackson makes the point that the audience will still be listening to radio as one of their primary audio choices.

“Whether you’re listening on the radio or an app, on a smart speaker or to a streaming station on your computer, nothing has really changed in terms of radio listening to our stations or to our competitors, radio can still be with you wherever you are… the engagement with radio is still there, I believe.

“People are learning how easy it is to listen to radio stations on smart speakers… you just say ‘play Nova’ and instantly hear the station, that audience is growing… On the train or bus, or going for a walk, you might find it easier to use the app… People now know how to get the radio on their phone app, how to get it on their smart speaker in the kitchen and DAB or FM in then car… It’s just about being  easily available and people knowing how to get it, and that is happening. We need to continue to make our audiences aware of that.”

Looking ahead, Jackson expects that people’s daily habits will soon go back to normal, but they will still want news and talk for some time to come yet.

“December will be really, really busy on the roads, people will be shopping, probably going about seeing each other more for this time of the year. Survey 8 will give us a summary of the year.”

“In Melbourne the cumes are about the same, but there is a bit more listening going on,” according to Jackson, who expects the ratings numbers on talk stations “to be maintained for quite a while” because further restriction changes and international travel reopening” will probably keep news relatively front and centre across the summer months.”

See our ratings coverage from yesterday here.