Podcasting: The Radio of Generation Z in Spain

Abstract

The fact that traditional radio is synchronous and unidirectional, with little or no room for interaction and content selection, is one of the main reasons why young people have turned their backs on it. In retrospect, conventional radio never cared for the younger generation, never designing strategies to bring them in. As a result, radio lost its relevance and it does not feature as part of young people’s digital diet. Over the last year, the number of podcast consumers has steadily increased, which is causing this format to become more and more cemented in society. It could be a way to gain younger listeners, an opportunity not to be missed by the radio industry. In the past, young people continued to listen to the radio as they got older, but that is no longer the case nor is radio seen as the go-to resource for new musical content. The challenge for radio is clear: regaining its influence through proposals with added value to differentiate itself from global platforms. In order to carry out this research, a total of 410 young university students were surveyed. The results show what the current picture is in such a changing atmosphere. It has been observed that this audience bases their audio consumption on personal preferences, they mainly access it via social media and they would find it useful and interesting to create their own podcast. This paper includes a podcast where academic experts and audio professionals, interviewed for the doctoral thesis “xxx (anonymity for review)”, reflect on the strategies that radio should adopt in order to gain young listeners.

1. Introduction and the Situation as It Stands: New Audiences in Digital Audio

This introductory section focuses on the minimal or non-existent incorporation of new radio audiences, how to make profitable new content for these new audiences and how to renovate forms of interacting with the listener. Secondly, through planned hypotheses, we identify crucial points concerning young people’s emerging listening habits. Thirdly, the statistical results are shown through a quantitative methodology. Finally, in the discussion and conclusions, data are used to show that young people are interested in the consumption of digital audio and are disposed to becoming content creators.

According to the reports of “Marco General de Medios (2022)” of the AIMC (association for the research of Mass Media), in Spain, radio maintains a high degree of market penetration, with a rate of 55.6%. This is, however, far below the 83.3% and 85.7% rates of television and the internet, respectively. Nevertheless, radio is a more stable media form and enjoys a more loyal audience. However, radio has an average consumption of only 92 min daily, far lower than the 207 min of television or the 215 min of the internet. Additionally, the consumption of radio online among young people between 14 and 24 years old is 10.4%, in contrast to the population aged between 35 and 54 years, 40.3% of which consumes radio online. These data imply a scarcity of interest in radio among young Spaniards. This lack of interest could be due to radio not catering for this sector of the population. Perhaps radio should employ new narratives, new formats or new means of distribution. If radio does not make this effort it will disappear, its current business model declining along with its aged audience.

In this context, the AIMC this year publishes the results of the “24ª Escuesta Navegantes en la Red (2022)” (24ª navigators on the web survey), a stand-out finding of which is that the smartphone is the device most used to access the internet; smartphones are used 92.5% of the time, whereas computers are used only 72% of the time.

Likewise, the survey reveals that the use of smart speakers to access the internet has increased by 3 percentage points, with particular growth in the use of smart speakers to listen to the radio or music. Additionally, 64% of the surveyed affirm that they had listened to the radio via the internet in the last month and 21.5% of the surveyed listen to native podcasts, while 27.5% listen to re-recorded content.

These data indicated that during the pandemic the consumption of audio and the use of smart speakers continued the rise, indicating once more their place in the digital diet of Spaniards.

Next, it is not common to scientifically approach an older means of communication such as radio (Balsebre 2001). Radio is often chalked up as the poorest form of media, receiving less focus in the scientific literature compared to other forms of mass media. In short, radio is the form of media that people always forget about and the one with the slowest evolution (Rodero 2009; Faus 2001; Checa 2003; Galán-Arribas et al. 2018).

In general, the media has experienced a huge transformation over the last 20 years (Herrero-Gutiérrez and Rodríguez Ramos 2009); however, it could be argued that there may have been a lack of planning and methodology. Technological innovation has been the main source of change in all cultural industries aside from radio, whose structures are clearly obsolete and whose future depends on its ability to fully integrate into the digital world (Franquet 2008; Hurtado 2007; Zallo 2013; Rodero 2009; Gallego 2010; Terol 2017; Peinado-Miguel and Rodríguez-Barba 2011).

The radio is therefore the medium which experienced digitalization the latest (Rodero and Blanco 2020), hindered also by a downward trend in investment. Moreover, when looking at the current status of radio, a significant change can be clearly felt: it has gone from a live model called ‘broadcast’ (one to many) to an on-demand model called ‘narrowcast’ (one to one) for a specialized audience.

From the results of this study, it is inferred that quality content for discerning young people can give results in forms of audiences of wider demographics. Such audiences form an ecosystem around the podcast format, which transgressive media producers have designed especially for them. Additionally, radio as a musical content prescriber must recover the position it enjoyed in previous decades, because nobody doubts that music and sport are magnets for young people.

Cabrera (2021) argues that podcasts are not expected to gather massive simultaneous audiences, but they have a key factor for success: engagement. This link between a brand and its audience is monetized in the most optimal way: advertisers use audiences’ engagement with podcasters by having podcasters act as influencers and advertise their brand, opening the door to new possibilities of profiting from audio content aimed at new audiences.

This study analyses the future of the radiophonic industry in relation to the incorporation of young listeners. It is probable that the late digital migration of radio is deterring young people. Why is Generation Z not incorporating the radio in their digital diet? It could be that they do not even know that there is a device called a ‘radio’ or even know what ‘FM’ is. Generation Z are young digital natives and their worlds exist inside their smartphones. The smartphone is also their music device, one which radio has not known how to access; however, today we have more tools with which the industry can engage in this task. This task necessitates knowing how to unlock the current context, a surrounding which is in a state of continual transformation. In such a fluid scenario, radio must be agile if it wants to be more relevant and strategically adopt the necessary changes.

All in all, the new landscape is giving rise to new program formats, new ways to interact with listeners, new business models and a new technological concept when it comes to content distribution. Adapting to emerging environments is key to succeed (Baena et al. 2012; Ortiz-Sobrino and López-Vidales 2011; Berry 2006; Bonet 2007; Gallego 2010).

On the other hand, according to Bonini (2015), podcasting could be considered a transformation of the radio. In any case, the focus should be on continuing to do what it does best, which is creating content and distributing it through all the different channels, knowing that the listener is proactive and plays a role in the program’s good performance (Zumeta et al. 2019, p. 55).

Additionally, taking into account the importance of listener interaction, the main radio stations create their own accounts on social media (Herrero-Gutiérrez 2011), the goal being to create new channels in which to connect and interact with their audience. It is their first form of contact with these new ways of communicating, where the follower can also recycle and generate content (Castells 2001, p. 521).

All the media advances with the technology, the lineal radio, irreversible and analogical is transformed in the digital surround and loses that fugacity that it characterized. To this manner, the radio calls podcast to that format associated with audio on demand.

Actually, the radio advances to new business models. In this sense, Pedrero-Esteban and García-Lastra (2019) affirm that probably the native podcast created to be commercialized and distributed attending new demands will obligate the radiophonic industry to redefine processes, but not the purposes of attending the listener.

Moreover, it is possible that it stops emitting on hertz mode, in the moment that is not rentable, and it is also possible that it abandons the lineal programming to catch the time of the user.

In this manner the principal web Spanish broadcasters lodge podcast, but do not allow a clear distinction between native podcast and recover audios of previous emissions. The case of PODIUM podcast (https://www.podiumpodcast.com/ accessed on 19 May 2022) from the PRISA Audio group stands out as an example of innovation.

Likewise, on a related note, because traditional radio is unidirectional and thus does not allow for interaction or content selection is undoubtedly one of the main reasons why young people have turned their backs on it. For them, the radio is something from the past: “the younger generation is an audience the radio has not been able to seduce, this medium lacking the talent to captivate them or to even attract their attention in the first place, even though its future depends on doing just that” (Martí et al. 2019, p. 282).

It is therefore crucial that, in order to survive, radio needs to make more concerted efforts to bring in young listeners. In retrospect, conventional radio never cared for young people nor designed strategies to attract them. However, knowing what other cultural industries and other countries do can help to design strategies for the future of the radio.

For example, closely observing what the BBC does to incorporate young listeners and create quality content especially for them through a new App BBC SOUNDS (2022). The audio and education director of the broadcast, James Powell, recognizes: “we serve the young listeners worser than the olders and we have to do more for the first ones”. Or the radio consultor Gorka Zumeta states in his blog. “New App. BBC Sounds, objective, the young people” (Zumeta 2018).

Although Generation Z is a proactive audience, they want to index the content they find interesting, they desire to participate, rate, share and create their own content (Bauman 2010). They are young digital natives whose entire world is contained within their smartphones—devices that are also their audio players. At the same time, they consume podcasts after finding them on social media (TikTok, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube) or through the recommendation of influencers or social media friends. Austin (2021), a consultant for musical radio, believes that the biggest challenge the industry faces is captivating the younger generation. In order to do so, it is necessary to reflect within their content their lives, their fashion style, their way of speaking, their music, etc.

There are certainly many factors linked to young people’s disregard for the radio. Global audio platforms prove to be more successful when it comes to fulfilling Generation Z’s audio needs. This might be caused by the language they use, by the algorithm or by a set of effective strategies that make this audience find what it wants. As previously mentioned, young people feel detached from radio because, among other things, it lacks these strategies (Pedrero-Esteban and García-Lastra 2019, p. 110). It is true that radio still has an emotional component that attracts listeners (Moreno et al. 2019, p. 212). However, it is time for this industry to reimagine itself and create new content and new narratives for young people. In this respect, it is worth mentioning Bretos (2021, radio journalist for Cadena SER), who claims: “I am learning to create content for people who want to disconnect.” Ortega (2021) explains that the problem with the radio is not about format, but content and distribution models. It is holding on to traditional business models, which do not react well with the fully technological Generation Z.

However, the radio keeps maintaining its traditional business model, falling together with its listeners and turning its back to the young people that do not identify with it. However, those who do not consume radio, identify themselves with podcast and audio.

Espinosa de los Monteros (2021) references the last survey from the audio platform Spotify, which reveals that more than 30% of the population regularly listens to podcasts; of these listeners, 40% are between 27 and 30 years old. Over the last year, the number of podcast consumers has experienced a steady increase, growing by 55%, helping this format to become more and more entrenched. Furthermore, San Luis (2021) claims that podcasts could act as laboratories where innovative products could be tested. Thierry Mars (2021), from EGTA Connect, presents some of the changes the radio industry needs to implement in order to captivate the younger generation: it has to be digital, mobile and multi-platformed and it has to be interactive on social media.

2. Objectives and Hypotheses

The radio must face the problems of its future, in particular, the renovation of its audience.

This line of research aims to appraise to what extent young prosumers play a role in the aforementioned new business models, as well as to study how they use their smart devices.

Understanding the voice assistant as the smart artificial system that connects us with electronic devices, in this case referring exclusively to the smartphone. Likewise, when the research refers to smart speakers, it will do it with that express denomination.

The following hypotheses were made:

H1. 

The majority of young university students make more use of smartphone voice control than smart speakers. However, when they want to search for audio content, they take advantage of smart speakers.

H2. 

The majority of young university students find advertising in podcasts useful because it is personalized.

H3. 

Young university students access podcasts mainly through social media; secondly, through friends’ recommendations; and thirdly, through rankings and mass media.

H4. 

Podcasts can be a very effective educational tool, with great development potential and accepted by the university community.

H5. 

Young university students who consume podcasts prefer topics related to lifestyle, and their main way of accessing them is through audio platforms. Moreover, it is very important for them to be able to listen to their podcast without having to rely on their screen.

H6. 

The majority of young university students have consumed podcasts since 2016, they spend between one and two hours a week doing so (mainly while not doing anything else) and they share them on social media.

H7. 

Young university students believe they can participate in podcast technology by creating topical content, lifestyle content, musical content or social content. The reasons to do so would be to gain visibility, to have fun and to reinforce their message.

H8. 

Since the first year of the pandemic, university students consume more podcasts than they did before.

H9. 

The pandemic has led to a surge in podcast creators among university students.

H10. 

The pandemic has caused voice assistants to be the most used tool when it comes to finding podcasts, surpassing other search systems.

3. Methodology

For this research, a quantitative method was employed, as it “adopts a systematic, objective and meticulous strategy that allows researchers to generate and refine knowledge” (Sousa et al. 2007, p. 2). This kind of methodology relies on analyzing numerical data through statistical processes to contrast the hypotheses (Burns and Grove 2005; Creswell 2003).

For another part, descriptive statistics techniques are employed to carry out an exploratory analysis of frequencies, tendencies and variability, that are useful for identifying patterns. For another part, the inferential statistics will allow us to use the chi-squared test and compare the observed values in the data with expected values.

A survey has been created and applied to a non-probabilistic sample. In the survey created for this study, the questions conceived aimed to provide an understanding of the following areas: the consumption of podcasts as part of people’s media intake; the devices used to listen to podcasts; the way listeners share feedback on social media; people’s consumption habits; etc. The software SPSS was used to collate the results. Additionally, different statistical tests were conducted in order to produce significant results.

As García-Ferrando (1996) states, surveys follow standardized processes of research, collecting and analyzing data from a sample that are representative of a population—or universe—which is wider than the one intended for study. According to other authors, such as Casas et al. (2003), surveys are suitable for massive application, and, by using the correct sampling technique, results can be extrapolated to entire communities. Thus, the focus lies on the population that is to be analyzed. In general, the larger the sample, the smaller the error. “Big is good, but appropriate is better” (Salkind 1999, p. 107). When a large sample cannot be covered because of a lack of capacity or resources, it is necessary to turn to the wider convenience sample.

Sample

For this study, as indicated previously, a non-probabilistic sample has been selected. Furthermore, a non-probability sample was favored, consisting of young university students between 18 and 25 years old. Non-probability sampling is used in studies where the probability of choosing a single individual is unknown; therefore, it is to be assumed that the individuals from the sample do not have an equal and autonomous chance of being chosen (Salkind 1999). This sample selection is explained at the end of the epigraph.

This type of sampling is very common in social science as it allows researchers to collect precise information in a short space of time and reflects the continuous and vertiginous social changes. Rodríguez-Osuna (1991) points out that the size of the sample is decided on the basis of the research objectives, the structure of the sampling frame and the financial constraints.

In research, non-probability sampling is often used as a means to approach the characteristics of reality. This is because carrying out a census to unveil the characteristics of a sector of the population is very costly in terms of staff, material and financial resources. There are many other equally reliable and much more cost-effective methods, “that consist of samples that allow researchers to build scale models of the total population, of which the results can be extrapolated to the universe these samples are from” (Rodríguez-Osuna 1991, p.12).

Finally, this is a convenience sample since this survey was anonymous, voluntary and totally unpaid. People who were older than 25 years old were excluded from the sample.

The sample consisted of 410 students (69.1% females; 30.1% males). The average age was 20.07 years old (SD = 2.065) (Figure 1). In total, 78.3% of respondents had finished high school or vocational education studies, 43.4% had a bachelor’s degree, 30.7% had a master’s degree and 28% had a PhD.

4. Results

The data show that most respondents do not share podcasts through social media. However, some social networks are more popular than others when it comes to sharing this kind of content: 39.0% of the respondents claim to share podcasts via WhatsApp, 18.92% via Twitter, 18.9% via Instagram, 5.3% via Facebook, 3.9% via YouTube, 2.2% via Telegram and 5.7% via other social media. This is a reflection of the most used social networks for content sharing in Spain. The negligible use young people make of Facebook (Figure 1) is particularly noteworthy:

The data indicate that the usage of voice assistants is quite widespread, but it is very dependent on the type of activity they are utilized for. “Searching for information on the Internet” is the most chosen option, far above many other activities. Voice assistants are mainly used for simple, daily tasks. However, when it comes to audio consumption, playing podcasts is one of the least common activities. Something similar happens with smart speakers, although they are generally less used, and audio consumption is more recurrent in these devices.

The most popular topic is “Lifestyle” (arts, literature, free time…), with 36.1% of respondents listening to this topic (Figure 2).

It emerged that 77.8% of young respondents do not use smart speakers. As for the brand, 21.7% of smart speaker users have Google Home, 7.3% have Alexa (Amazon Echo), 15.6% have Siri (Home Pod) and 23.4% claim to not own any of these devices. The most frequent activity these devices are used for is “Playing music” (16.7%), followed by “Check weather forecasts” (16%) and “Searching for information on the Internet” (12.0%), with these three options comprising more than 10% each as a response.

Furthermore, 58.5% of young university students use their smartphones’ voice control, 54.9% of them doing so between one and three times a day. In contrast, 39.3% of respondents never use it. Among those who do make use of it, most of them do so for “Searching for information on the Internet” (42.6%), followed by “Recording voice memos” (26.7%), “Making calls” (24.2%), “Checking the weather” (23.2%), “Setting up alerts” (20.1%) and other options that do not reach 20% of responses.

Finally, 12.3% of respondents claim to have created a podcast before.

It is clear that there is a widespread use of smartphone voice control among respondents, with 58.5% of them reporting to use it. Smart speakers are much less common, with only 22.2% of respondents turning to them.

Moreover, among respondents who do use smart speakers, 95.2% of them do so between one and three times a day, and only 4.8% use it four or more times in a given day.

Regarding the activities for which voice assistants and smart speakers are used, it is mostly simple actions, as mentioned earlier. Voice assistants are more popular than smart speakers, although audio consumption is proportionally more recurrent in the latter.

Advertising in podcasts is not usually well received by respondents. Only 3.4% of them consider it useful, 19.3% of them find it annoying and most of them (67.0%) say they just put up with it.

Moreover, 81.8% of respondents think that podcasts could be a useful educational tool in learning processes, and 14.6% believe it should be optional. Furthermore, 93.2% of respondents are of the firm belief that podcasting can foster the acquisition of new knowledge, and 91.8% think that it can be considered an instrument to be used in virtual learning environments.

Concerning H5, the majority of respondents (83.2%) listen to podcasts without needing to look at the screen, and 91.0% have no trouble in listening to content while carrying out other daily activities.

Most of the listening is carried out via social networks (57.2% of respondents use them), via apps (50.8%) and, to a lesser extent, via the website of the broadcaster (31.1%). It was conveyed that 49.3% of respondents listen to this content through podcast hosting platforms; however, the number of responses is low (n = 75) and should be treated with caution.

As previously stated, social media seems to be the main gateway to podcasts, as 76.6% of respondents discover new podcasts through them. It appears that 55.8% of respondents access podcasts through friends’ recommendations, 50.8% carry out specific searches, 29.0% check rankings in platforms and 25.3% follow recommendations from mass media.

It was confirmed that podcasts related to the topic “Lifestyle” are the most popular ones, with 36.5% of respondents listening to them. The topic “National and international news” is not as attractive (14.1%), being surpassed by “Social affairs or interesting events” (28.5%) and “Specific topics (technology, health, etc.)” (26.3%).

In order to give an answer to Hypothesis 6, a series of descriptive analyses were carried out with the chosen variables. Thus, when trying to confirm the year in which young university students started listening to podcasts, it became apparent that their podcast consumption increased in 2019 and 2020, with 23.1% and 17.8% of respondents, respectively. However, only 3.6% of respondents started listening to podcasts in 2016 (Figure 3).

When it comes to how many hours per week young university students spend listening to podcasts, almost half of them spend less than one hour per week (42.2%). Furthermore, 25.8% of respondents spend between one and two hours, 5.1% spend more than two hours and 27% do not consume podcasts at all (Figure 4).

In this regard, the evidence showed that young people listen to one or two podcasts per week (70%). Meanwhile, 20% of respondents do not listen to any podcasts and 10% listen to three or more per week.

Furthermore, it was initially suggested that young people consume podcasts mainly while doing nothing else. In this respect, the data show that 61.3% of respondents listen to podcasts while doing nothing else, and 53.9% do so while carrying out chores.

Thus, young people who share the podcasts they judge interesting mainly do so through social networks such as Twitter, WhatsApp and Instagram. However, it is worth noting that almost half of young people do not share podcasts through social media (49.8%).

Some additional analyses were also carried out, creating cross tables to explore if the number of weekly hours has an impact on the time chosen to listen to podcasts. As a result, it was perceived that people who listen to podcasts for more than two hours a week mainly do so on their way to school or on their way home [X2 (6, N = 240) = 19.243, p = 0.004]. Furthermore, those who listen to podcasts for between one and two hours a week mainly do so while carrying out chores [X2 (6, N = 241) = 61.240, p = 0.000]. Those who listen to podcasts for less than one hour a week do not do so while exercising [X2 (6, N = 239) = 28.992, p = 0.000], in contrast with those who listen to podcasts for between one and two hours and those who listen to them for more than two hours, who consume this content while exercising.

Young people who listen to podcasts for less than one hour do so right before sleeping, just as those who listen to podcasts for between one and two hours [X2 (6, N = 240) = 33.685, p = 0.000]. Moreover, a correlation can be identified between the hours of podcast consumption and the moment of “getting out of bed”: respondents who consume podcasts for between one and two hours do so when they get out of bed [X2 (6, N = 239) = 10.870, p = 0.092]. Those who listen to podcasts for less than one hour, or between one and two hours, do so while doing nothing else [X2 (6, N = 225) = 71.967, p = 0.000].

Cross tables were also produced to understand if the number of podcasts that respondents listened to per week has an impact on them sharing this content on social media. When looking at the figures, it can be noted that those who listen to more than six podcasts a week share the ones they deem interesting on Twitter and Telegram [X2(8, N = 224) = 34.398, p = 0.000]; [X2(8, N = 223) = 28.194, p = 0.000]. Those who listen to between three and four podcasts a week share them on Facebook [X2 (8, N = 223) = 21.300, p = 0.006] and Instagram [X2 (8, N = 224) = 25.246, p = 0.001]. Those who listen to between one and two podcasts share them on WhatsApp [X2 (8, N = 232) = 31.453, p = 0.000]. The least chosen social network for sharing podcasts is YouTube [X2 (8, N = 224) = 14.030, p = 0.081].

Regarding H7, the data show that 81.4% of respondents believe that creating a podcast would be useful and interesting, in contrast with only 5.9% of them claiming the opposite. As for the topics they would prefer to take on, they mention news, sports, music and their personal field of studies or specialization.

Among the young respondents that would enjoy creating a podcast, 12.0% of them believe it would help them to increase their visibility, 23.9% would do it for fun, 9.5% think it would reinforce their message, 4.6% hope it could help them build new ties with their audience and 10.2% would do it for all these reasons combined.

There are no differences between the number of weekly hours devoted to listening to podcasts before and after the first year of the pandemic [X2 (3, N = 250) = 4.878, p = 0.181]. However, there is a difference between the number of podcasts listened to before and after the first year of the pandemic [X2 (4, N = 369) = 43.206, p = 0.000]. Findings elucidate that there are more people who do not listen to podcasts after the first year of the pandemic, that is, there are fewer people who listen between one and two podcasts per week after the pandemic began. This means that, although there is an incline in the number of podcasts people listen to per week after the first year of the pandemic, there is also an increase in the number of young people who do not consume any podcasts or that consume one or two per week.

Moreover, after the first year of the pandemic, a decrease occurs in the number of people who think that creating a podcast would be useful and interesting [X2(2, 354) = 16.471, p = 0.000], mainly due to an increase in the number of respondents who reply “I do not know” or “I do not wish to answer.” There is also a decrease in the number of people who have created a podcast before [X2(1, 155) = 8.420, p = 0.004].

Finally, regarding H10, a chi-squared test proved that knowledge on what a smart speaker is has significantly decreased since the pandemic began [X2(1, 393) = 102.189, p = 0.000]. The frequency of use of this kind of device has also significantly diminished [X2(1, 248) = 43.409, p = 0.000], with respondents often claiming to use it between one and three times a day, instead of four times or more.

Concerning the use of voice control in smartphones, it also seems to have decreased. The number of respondents who use this function is significantly lower since the pandemic than before the pandemic [X2(2, 393) = 52.540, p = 0.000]. Something similar has happened with the frequency of use: before the pandemic, the number of people who used it between one and three times a day was significantly higher [X2(2, 390) = 65.221, p = 0.000]; however, since the pandemic started, the number of people who claim to never use this function has meaningfully increased.

When it comes to the activities for which voice assistants are used, a drop can be seen in its use for listening to the news, something which was significantly higher before the pandemic started [X2(1, 327) = 7.653, p = 0.006]. In contrast, using smart speakers for sending messages has become much more popular since the pandemic began [X2(1, 372) = 7.570, p = 0.006], and the same is true for using smart speakers to search for information on the Internet [X2(1, 368) = 6.515, p = 0.011], to play music [X2(1, 372) = 13.842, p = 0.000], to check the weather [X2(1, 366) = 6.642, p = 0.010] and to set up alerts [X2(1, 360) = 13.619, p = 0.000]; all these uses have increased since the pandemic started.

To sum up, it can be concluded that the use and knowledge on these systems seem to have decreased, probably due to weaknesses in the design of the instrument and the composition of the sample. It is nevertheless established that using smart speakers for playing podcasts is happening more and more often [X2(1, 368) = 2.846, p = 0.092].

5. Discussion

It is crucial that the industry takes care of the interactivity and the participation of listeners due to the fact that young listeners of Generation Z are highly technological and have a great variety of channels and media to listen to about their favorite contents. Thus, if the industry does not do something soon, the radio will not enter their digital diet.

The radio keeps providing for millions of listeners, but now the panorama is different as there are millions of markets for a more reduced public. In addition, radio is generalist, it has a consumption thought exclusively for current affairs and the formats are designed to discuss above all political or economic topics, and all this encourages the hatred of many young people.

Likewise, the changeable technological panorama united with the fluidity of the media is encouraging the radio to reformulate and artificial intelligence will help give new impetus. In addition, the radio encompasses numerous professionals who understand the audio business better than anybody and thus these individuals must try new business models to see which ones function the best.

After analyzing the data extracted from this survey among university students, the claim can be made that they mostly share audio content through WhatsApp and they barely use Facebook. Additionally, using smart speakers to play podcasts is becoming more and more popular. It can be inferred that if these devices start to be present in most homes, they will become a key source of audio content, which would benefit the radio industry.

Similarly, it is worth noting that young university students and podcast consumers are the most captivated by the topic of lifestyle, followed by content related to social affairs or interesting events and technology.

It is understood that just over a tenth of respondents have created a podcast before and it is particularly fascinating that the vast majority of young university students believe that creating a podcast would be interesting, sports being the preferred topic.

It is clear that respondents do not react well to advertising.

However, some question surge such as why are young people not integrating the radio into their lives? Additionally, why do they do it with Spotify? The detachment of the young people towards the radios is notorious, there is no content for them and is not distributed where they are.

Furthermore, young people claim to access audio content mainly through social media, followed by friends’ recommendations, searches and rankings. Moreover, those who listen to more than six podcasts a week share the ones they enjoy the most on social networks such as Twitter and Telegram.

Likewise, regarding the moment of listening, people who listen to podcasts for more than two hours do so on their way to school or on their way home. Those who listen to podcasts for between one and two hours do so while carrying out household chores. Both of these groups of people listen to podcasts while exercising.

It must also be highlighted that the groups of respondents (pre-pandemic and post-pandemic) were students doing different university degrees; consequently, the sample could show different interests. All this has undoubtedly altered the results in the pre-pandemic and post-pandemic comparison.

In addition, radios are going to be content platforms for broadcasting itself or for foreign producers. This already happened to the television and soon the radio will change in a way that we have never known (Ortiz-Sobrino and López-Vidales 2011; Peinado-Miguel et al. 2017).

This means that content will soon choose us and offer what we like. If the radio does not face these changes, it will probably turn out to be irrelevant and will no longer be influential.

Audio production and, in particular, the radiophonic industry face serious challenges. Out of all media, it appears that the radio has been harmed the most because, thanks to the Internet, the press and the television have owned ubiquity and instantaneity, two characteristics that until not so long ago were exclusive to the radio.

To summarize, a more balanced format of radio might has been found which shares some similarities with the television format, as it broadcasts its own content and content from others. It cannot be denied that, up until now, radio has missed many opportunities because it was only focused on its current business model.

Moreover, PRISA Audio, Espinosa de los Monteros (2019), assures that we are in the era of audification:

“such has been the evolution of this ability that the audio has cut out the initial textual function: many of us use the voice message as the more simple and direct way of communicating. We are in the era of audification (radio, podcast audiobooks, smartspeakers, audiograms, connected cars, voice notes) that is intimately linked with the proactive and multitasking society we live in; why loosing time on a keyboard if I can record a voice message?” (Espinosa de los Monteros 2019, p. 1).

Instead of losing opportunities and exploring very little, why does the radiophonic industry not change strategies? The future of the radio is not dissolving before the new mediatic panorama, but is adapting to it.

At the same time, radio still aims to attract millions of listeners, instead of realizing that the situation is different now as there are millions of markets for a more reduced audience.

Otherwise, platforms such as Clubhouse are not exclusive for Generation Z. Adults are also interested in content that makes them think of other things—something the radio used to do in the past.

As a last resort, the radio industry should come together at some point and forget about illogical competition. In order to face all these upcoming challenges, joint actions are required.

Moreover, the radio industry needs a content manager to challenge great audio depredators such as Audiable, Podimo, Spotify…, etc. the radio cannot stay behind, it has to adjust to this surrounding. Working conjointly will reduce this risk.

After all, the radio is a product and, as such, it needs brand management. This should probably include Twitter Spaces, Clubhouse, podcast platforms and everything the audience demands.

Crucially, a change has occurred from analog and broadcast to digital, narrowcast and multi-device, where smart devices interact through audio. The advances in artificial intelligence will undoubtedly have an impact on this field. Certainly, the changing technological landscape is forcing the radio to reinvent itself.

Producers need to implement changes that generate content for all ages, in particular, for young people.

Without a doubt, the current business model has been powerful, but if it does not incorporate new listeners, we do not know how much longer radio will remain relevant with an aged audience.

Generation Z is totally technological and they have multiple ways to listen to their preferred podcasts, but the traditional radio is not part of their mediatic consumption. If some see the podcast as a thread for the radio, we can say that they are not right. The radio provides for a large number of audiences, whereas podcasts are intimate and must build its community of audience, but something is certain, they both capable of exciting their audiences.

Finally, radio has professionals who understand the audio business better than anybody. The industry should use these assets to experiment with new business models. It needs to innovate without neglecting the quality of its content, while also taking part in technological advances. As always, success lies in balance.

6. Conclusions

After merging the results and putting them under scrutiny, the first hypothesis (H1) can be substantiated, as the use of smartphone voice control is indeed widespread—much more than the use of smart speakers. The reason behind this could be that smart speakers are still not completely integrated in everybody’s homes and future investigations will determine the reach of its growth. It is worth noting that people tend to use voice assistants for simple activities, and that listening to audio content through smart speakers is proportionally more frequent.

In contrast, it is necessary to reject the second hypothesis (H2), as advertising in podcasts is not well-received, or, as many of the respondents stated, it is merely tolerated. For the moment it is hard to know the business volume of podcasts in Spain. Some platforms are compensated after reaching one thousand listens on one audio; however, with no more data, we live in a moment of great unknowing of this new business model which creates interest for future research.

Concerning the third hypothesis (H3), only the first two parts are accepted. It is true that young university students access podcasts mainly through social media and through friends’ recommendations. However, the third most popular means of accessing podcasts is not by checking rankings (as H3 also stated) but searching for specific content.

Furthermore, most respondents believe that podcasts have great potential as an educational tool which could be useful in learning processes. Consequently, the fourth hypothesis (H4) is accepted.

The pandemic has favored the unmeasured interest for this learning tool without spatiotemporal borders, and it is necessary to keep advancing this new line of investigation.

The fifth hypothesis (H5) is also corroborated, as it is confirmed that respondents listen to podcasts with ease, without needing to look at the screen, and are mostly interested in topics related to lifestyle.

Conversely, the sixth hypothesis (H6) is rejected, due to the fact that half of the respondents do not share any podcasts; those who do, tend to use WhatsApp. The majority of respondents started listening to podcasts in 2019 and 2020, not in 2016 as this hypothesis stated. It is worth noting that most respondents consume podcasts between one and two hours a week, mainly while they are not doing anything else or while doing chores. Finally, those who listen to more than six podcasts a week share them on Twitter and Telegram; those who listen to between three and four podcasts a week, share them on Facebook and Instagram; and, as was already noted, those who listen to between one and two podcasts a week, share them on WhatsApp.

It is necessary to keep investigating how young people consume radio as this will allow us to develop the business of digital audio.

Regarding the seventh hypothesis (H7), it is accepted, as respondents would find it useful and interesting to create their own podcast about news, lifestyle, sports, music or something related to their own field of studies. They would do it to increase their visibility, to have fun or to reinforce their message.

It will be interesting to find out if, with some basic knowledge about the creation of audio, the university students turn out to be podcasters.

On the other hand, the eighth hypothesis (H8) is rejected: although there is an increase in the number of podcasts people listen to per week after the first year of the pandemic, there is also a greater number of young people who do not listen to any podcasts or who listen to one or two podcasts per week. Something similar happens with the ninth hypothesis (H9), as the results show that, since the pandemic began, there has been a decrease in the number of people who believe that creating a podcast would be useful and interesting. Similarly, there has been a decline in the number of people who have created a podcast. Therefore, H9 is rejected.

Lastly, the tenth hypothesis (H10) is also rejected, as there seems to be a decrease in the use of voice assistants for playing podcasts. This is probably due to the fact that the instrument was not designed to take into account that there would be two different periods of time to be measured (pre-pandemic and post-pandemic); the same happened with the sample composition. However, it is noteworthy that, when it comes to using smart speakers for playing podcasts, their use has tended to increase.

Enlarging the investigation with instruments designed for that effect will provide a high rate of reliability.

In summary, the radio is losing influence as a source of media, which in the end means nothing for young people.

This means that innovating without forgetting the quality content of the radio will provide a successful equilibrium.