Video Didn't Kill the Radio Star

More than 40 years after The Buggles released "Video Killed the Radio Star", radio is still alive and well. With all the chatter about about streaming and other digital media, it’s easy to forget how powerful traditional media such as radio and television still are. Radio in particular rarely gets credited for what it still is: a true mass medium. According to MRI-Simmons, radio even trumps TV in terms of its weekly reach among U.S. adults.

According to MRI-Simmons, 91 percent of U.S. adults listen to the radio at least once a week, far exceeding the reach of live and time-shifted TV at 76 percent, social media at 70 percent an online video at 67 percent. While radio does win in terms of sheer reach, TV remains unparalleled with respect to average daily usage. According to Nielsen, U.S. adults spent an average of 3 hours and 41 minutes watching live and time-shifted TV in Q3 2020, which is roughly 2.5 times the amount of time they spent listening to the radio (1 hour and 31 minutes).