Post Covid summer holidays will bring changed media consumption habits

With borders finally opening up and a massive Tourism Australia campaign featuring Hamish, Zoe and Andy recently launched, Australians are expected to enjoy the upcoming summer holiday period with changed listening habits.

“This summer, we anticipate that more Australians will be listening to radio while out and about in the car, and it will be interesting to see changes in media consumption patterns after months of lockdowns and virtual meetings,” says Commercial Radio Australia’s Joan Warner.

She expects “relaxation, digital detox, holidays away and road trips” to come back to the fore.

Last year’s summer survey showed radio listening stayed strong as Australians spent more time at home due to travel restrictions. While listening is expected to remain strong, listening patterns will probably change this Summer, perhaps returning to the traditional summer music listening habits of the past.

While there are no radio surveys during the summer school holiday period, GfK does track summer listening habits through its Radio Insights Summer Listening Report. This year’s fifth annual nationwide 2022 summer listening survey coming up in January 2022 will examine the radio and media consumption habits of Australians as they emerge from a year of lockdowns and travel restrictions.

The research, commissioned by Commercial Radio Australia (CRA), will survey consumers’ use of radio in both metropolitan and regional Australia over the summer holiday period as the nation reopens.

GfK’s last study, conducted in January 2021, found that Australians are more likely to listen to media than watch it over summer. Nine out of 10 radio listeners said they listened to radio as much or more over the hotter months, a figure that has been consistent over the previous four years.

Ninety-three per cent of listeners consider radio a valuable source of information over summer and nine out of 10 agreed that radio provides ideas or inspiration about things to see and do.

Respondents also said radio made them feel happy while they were off work and enhanced time spent with family and friends.

Sixty-two percent tuned in to radio at their holiday destination and seventy percent of listeners said radio is a “great companion.”

The 2021 GfK Radio Insights Summer Listening report was conducted online with a nationally representative sample of 1272 Australian respondents aged 10+.

Click to enlarge the 2021 report infographic.

The 2022 GfK Radio Insights Summer Listening report will be conducted during January and released in early February 2022.

The final GfK ratings survey for 2021 will be released on Tuesday December 14th 2021 and the first survey for 2022 will go into the field on January 16th 2022, with results released on March 10th.