Radio reaches nearly 3 billion people worldwide, who listen an average of 90 minutes each day.  This statistic comes from Deloitte Global’s recent study on “Technology, Media, and Telecommunications Predictions 2019.” In the section on “Radio: Revenue, reach and resilience,” Deloitte reports on radio’s ubiquitous reach and growing revenue, both globally and in the U.S.

Deloitte predicts that radio revenue will reach $40 billion worldwide in 2019, up 1% from the previous year.  The United States represents over half of that global radio revenue.  Why is that?  The country’s share of advertising dollars can be attributed to its consistent reach among adults; 94% weekly in 2018, nearly the same as in 2001 when the iPod was introduced.  Advertisers are drawn not only to the mass reach of Radio, but also to the quality of their listeners.  U.S. radio listeners are more likely to be employed, educated and have higher incomes.  Radio is also predicted to continue to perform well among younger demographics, with 90% of U.S. adults 18-34 listening to radio each week.

The study closes by stating that “the obvious implication of all of the aforementioned aspects is that radio is not going away, and it should be a big part of the ad mix for those buying advertising.”