Ad-supported audio still comes at a cost to the listener, and that cost is time.

Listeners to ad-supported audio can “pay” for the audio by listening to (sometimes extended) ad breaks. Of course, the best audio experiences ensure that the ad content is entertaining and informative for the listener.

The graph below is a trend graph for two demos in the U.S., those age 13+ and those age 13-34, and it shows how the percentage of daily time with ad-supported vs. ad-free audio has changed since 2015. Please note this graph is not a percentage of listeners, but it is a percentage of daily time spent with audio.

 

 

Two things to note in the graph above:

1. The percentage of daily time spent with ad-free audio has grown by 34% since 2015.  As of Q1 2022, 39% of listening done by those age 13+ is to ad-free audio, up from 29% in 2015. 

2. The rate of change for younger people is even higher, as the daily time spent with ad-free audio among those age 13-34 has risen by 43% since 2015. As of Q1 2022, 50% of daily listening done by age 13-34 is to ad-free audio, up from 35% in 2015. It’s notable that half of all daily audio consumed by 13-34-year-olds in the U.S. is ad-free.

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