New research carried out by RED C for IAB Ireland has found that over three quarters of all adults age 16+ listen to digital audio.
The new Irish Digital Audio Research found that digital audio listeners tend to be younger, from higher social grades and are more likely to be working full time
The research was commissioned by IAB Ireland’s Digital Audio Council and represents the sixth wave of ‘Listen Up Ireland’ which presents a deep-dive into digital audio trends and consumption habits in Ireland.
The research, which has tracked digital audio since 2019, specifically looked at a number of key areas including the incidence and demographics underpinning the growth of digital audio in recent years, the channels used, time spent listening, the devices used and the reasons to engage with and attitudes towards digital audio.
One of the key finding was that 76% of all 16+ adults in Ireland are consuming digital audio each week. That equates to almost 3.1m adults. This rises to 91% among 16-34 year olds.
35% of digital audio listeners– or almost 1.1m adults– are listening daily, with 87% listening weekly.
The research also found that FM radio plus digital audio together have a combined reach of 94% of all adults 16+while digital audio ‘only’ listeners extend FM reach by 10%. For 16-24s, this incremental reach is 30%.
The IAB Ireland research also found that the demographic profile of digital audio users remains similar to that in 2024, with digital audio listeners differing from the national population in the following ways: they are considerably more likely to be 18-34 (+6%), in full time employment (+5%) and ABC1 (+4%).
When it comes to how digital audio stacks up against other media for time spent per week, it comes in second place(11.8 hours) just behind live TV (12.6 hours). In terms of engaging with digital audio, the research also found that the smartphone continues to dominate with listening via connected cars and Smart TVs growing.
When it came to listeners experience of advertising, the research noted that 41% of people are now willing to listen to ads in exchange for great free content – up 5 points from the position in February 2024.
It also noted that digital audio ads command more attention and are more trusted than ads running on all other digital channels analysed.
On publication of the report, Lee Thompson, co-chair of the IAB Audio Council said, “This new expanded report is very positive news for brand marketers considering digital audio,” says Lee Thompson, co-chair of the IAB Audio Council and director of AudioOne.
“It confirms digital audio’s position as a primary media channel with the weekly listener universe increasing to almost 3.1 million,” he adds.
“Time spent has ticked up with digital audio only trailing Live TV in terms of total time spent. Encouragingly, digital audio is helping large numbers of people discover new content and learn and the willingness to listen to ads on digital audio has also grown significantly – this indicates a positive shift in attitudes towards growing acceptance of free content being supported by ads.’
According to Maeve O’Meara, programme director, IAB Ireland: “We included some new questions this year to look at levels of Attention and Trust in Digital Audio and were pleased to see Digital audio score high on both metrics. In terms of Attention, ads on podcasts came in joint second place with TV ads, second only to cinema advertising. With three quarters of all adults listening to digital audio in an average week and the profile of digital audio listeners skewing younger, from higher social grade and those working full time, the growth of digital audio shows no signs of slowing.”
The full Listen Up Ireland Report is available to view on iabireland.ie and highlights will be presented at IAB Connect, on Tuesday 13th May, 2025.
