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Survey Shows Gen-Z Not Listening To Radio

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It's an interesting study and we see it right here in RD.

As we've been saying, the Gen Z part of Nielsen is being overwhelmed by the older demos. So weighting gives them more influence than actual numbers indicate. That's why you see classic stations showing up in 18-34s, and why it's so hard for stations that play currents to do well.

The survey said new music discovery is down, but that also reflects the lack of interest in music discovery. Look at CHR ratings over the last year and what they've done to improve ratings. They're cutting back on new music and going deeper into gold. That's not good if the goal is new music discovery. But what that also shows is how small the interest is in new music in general.
 
TheBigA said:
The survey said new music discovery is down, but that also reflects the lack of interest in music discovery. Look at CHR ratings over the last year and what they've done to improve ratings. They're cutting back on new music and going deeper into gold. That's not good if the goal is new music discovery. But what that also shows is how small the interest is in new music in general.
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You're spot on. Unlike what some believe, this decline doesn't belong at the feet of radio as an industry. Radio has always relied on the music industry to use radio as a conduit to introduce and promote music. There are a lot of reasons too, and as we've stated here many times, much of the newer CHR music contains lyrics unacceptable for use on obscenity-limited broadcasting. Many new artists are not signing record deals, but are being introduced via social media like TikTok and then streams, to which radio doesn't have access.
 
Kelly A said:
Many new artists are not signing record deals, but are being introduced via social media like TikTok and then streams, to which radio doesn't have access.
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Or they get discovered by record labels on TikTok, and signed to record labels for formats where they can get airplay. Such as country, where several TikTok stars (Bailey Zimmerman, Priscilla Block) have had success.
 
But didn't DavidEduardo say that 90% of Americans listen to the radio at least a few hours a week, or something? I AM NOT SURPRISED by this. The average 21-year-old is listening to Spotify or relying on social media to find 'breakthrough artists'. Even some recent CCM artists, Katy Nichole is one of them, were on TikTok when their first singles went to radio. It feels like the era of 'become a major star by winning a reality show' has ended.
I've even noticed this with pre-teens (as a substitute teacher this past school year). They find their music through YouTube and social media, often in the rap genre, and ignore radio as a whole. I bet you 1/2 of an average suburban fifth-grade class doesn't even know what an FM radio is, or it's just something they listen to in the car on their way to and from soccer practice. A quarter of that same class probably doesn't know what a DVD is.

For every 1 student whose parents introduce them to The Beatles, there's 20 more that are introduced to Lizzo or Lil Nas X through social media/YouTube. It made me sad walking through a primary-aged hall at one of these schools, and on the walls was a montage of what the kids wanted to be when they grew up. 1/2 of them said 'YouTuber' or 'TikTok star'. NOT lawyer, not teacher, not doctor, not scientist, not even a football player. They already know YouTube and too many parents give them long hours of access to a phone at the age of 6.
 
TheBigA said:
There's a difference between a poll and PPM measurement. What people say and what people do are different things.
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And in this case, how many Gen-Z are PPM participants vs. over 30? I'd say that the 90% likely holds up with Millenials and older, but would argue that most Gen-Z radio consumption would be likely riding in someone else's vehicle while the radio was on. Not that they actively seek out the radio. Of course, there will be outliers, but speaking about the majority.
 
I am 30 (millennial) and grew up listening to radio. Back then there were iPods I could have connected to and there were swear words in stuff like Eminem, but I am not connected to what Gen Z is doing so I would not know.
 
Attempting to forestall the inevitable misunderstandings: Gen Z are currently 13 to 27 years old. That means the youngest third of the generation isn't in a salable demo.

The problem is, in five years, the entire generation will be 18-32 and make up the overhwelming majority of the 18-34 demo.
 
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TheBigA said:
Or they get discovered by record labels on TikTok, and signed to record labels for formats where they can get airplay. Such as country, where several TikTok stars (Bailey Zimmerman, Priscilla Block) have had success.
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If anything, the country pipeline is choked with too many such new talents. While Bailey Zimmerman has sustained his out-of-the-box success, it's been difficult for Jackson Dean to keep radio's attention since his smash "Don't Come Lookin'" went recurrent. His follow-up single has been hanging around for a long time but has the look of a stiff right now. I'm not hearing it on any of our country stations up here yet. I wonder if the same is in store for Corey Kent. "Fast As You" was a smash, but the uptempo follow-up "Something's Gonna Kill Me" has yet to impact. It's still got time, though, having only been out since early June.

Meanwhile, the labels seem to find an even newer talent to push at least twice a month, further sapping the momentum of the Deans and Kents of Nashville. Of course, if radio keeps playing two Wallen and Combs currents simultaneously -- and multiple recurrents/gold buy both -- along with currents by Zimmerman and other artists with either buzz (Lainey Wilson) or large, loyal fan bases and a radio-ready sound (Jason Aldean fits here) there aren't enough places in the rotation for everything else.

If only rock and pop had this problem.
 
tall_guy1 said:
I am 30 (millennial) and grew up listening to radio. Back then there were iPods I could have connected to and there were swear words in stuff like Eminem, but I am not connected to what Gen Z is doing so I would not know.
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At 43 and the tail end of GenX I also grew up on radio. Now that listening has moved to SXM in the car and streaming elsewhere. Spotify is where I go and it's not for new music. I have no idea who the artists are in the top 50 of their rankings.
 
crainbebo said:
But didn't DavidEduardo say that 90% of Americans listen to the radio at least a few hours a week, or something?
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No. The figure is around 90% of people have one measured listening incident per week. I believe, in PPM markets, that can be satisfied by 5 consecutive minutes.

The other thing to keep in mind with young adults is that they often live with their family, so even if the PPM registered a 21 year old listening to KYW for 30 minutes today, it may not have been by their own choice. In that way, surveys like the Jacobs Media one Kelly shared can be better data, registering the preferences of individuals regardless of their living arrangement.
 
TheBigA said:
As we've been saying, the Gen Z part of Nielsen is being overwhelmed by the older demos. So weighting gives them more influence than actual numbers indicate. That's why you see classic stations showing up in 18-34s, and why it's so hard for stations that play currents to do well.
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Each demographic cell in the sample universe of the diary or PPM ratings is recruited to be as close as possible to the actual population. So if 18-24 men are 6.2% of the measured population, 6.2% of the sample will go to people in that age range. If some/many don't listen to terrestrial radio, they are still included in the ratings tabulations.

What likely is happening is that the fewer young adults that listen to terrestrial radio are mostly proponents of library music, not currents. The current music proponents will stream... they get more choices on the blend and don't have to endure censored lyrics.
 
landtuna said:
I'm beating a dead horse here but I'll say it once again - much of "new" music is crap and has, predictability, lost a ton of interest.
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"much of "new" music is crap and has, predictability, lost a ton of interest..." because radio can't run a huge percentage of current hits due to lyrics. Or if they do, and edit, the songs sound awful. So that whole group does not listen to radio... but to them, the current new music is just as good as the new songs in the 50's and 60's were to me.
 
The audience for contemporary music, which has always been teens and young adults, haven't stopped listening to the music---they're just not listening to as much of it via over-the-air radio as they had in previous generations.
 
DavidEduardo said:
"much of "new" music is crap and has, predictability, lost a ton of interest..." because radio can't run a huge percentage of current hits due to lyrics. Or if they do, and edit, the songs sound awful. So that whole group does not listen to radio... but to them, the current new music is just as good as the new songs in the 50's and 60's were to me.
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Genuinely curious, but is a lot of the very current music that profane? The '00s definitely had some very profane songs (especially among urban songs like Snoop Dogg).
 
tall_guy1 said:
Genuinely curious, but is a lot of the very current music that profane? The '00s definitely had some very profane songs (especially among urban songs like Snoop Dogg).
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Spotify posted a playlist of their top US hits of 2022, and 14 of the top 25 were tagged "explicit". I didn't personally verify the presence of language unsuitable for broadcast.

 
PTBoardOp94 said:
Spotify posted a playlist of their top US hits of 2022, and 14 of the top 25 were tagged "explicit". I didn't personally verify the presence of language unsuitable for broadcast.

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Huh. So looks like a lot of the hip hop is (and artists like Bad Bunny, which I haven't listened to.)
 
landtuna said:
I'm beating a dead horse here but I'll say it once again - much of "new" music is crap and has, predictability, lost a ton of interest.
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When I used the words "new music," I meant newly released music, as opposed to current hit music. Those are two different categories in the chart world. So I wasn't saying there's no interest in current music, because there is. However, there are also people like you who aren't interested in current music. Statistically speaking, you're in the minority.
 
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