Internet radio is consumed by the majority of online Americans, according to a study of radio consumption by Edison Research.

Fifty-three percent of Americans who use the internet listen to internet radio.

More than a third listen to personalised radio stations they create via music streaming platforms; 27 percent listen to streaming services of traditional radio.

The survey of over 3,000 online respondents was commissioned by The Streaming Audio Task Force, comprising Pandora, Spotify and TuneIn.

The study also found that internet radio is the third most popular way that people discover new music, ahead of Amazon, YouTube, Social Media and other sources and that more than a quarter of users told researchers that their listening is mostly ‘new time’ – not previously filled with audio of any kind.

Internet radio equals or beats AM/FM radio by listeners on the move (excluding in-car listening) with more than a fifth of respondents saying they consume internet radio when walking or on public transport.

Eighty-three percent of respondents say they still listen to AM/FM radio in the car.

President of Edison Research Larry Rosin said: “The data clearly shows that Internet radio is not only a mainstream activity for the majority of online Americans, it’s also essentially expanding the pie for audio media.”

“The advent of mobile listening, and the proliferation of choices for the types of Internet audio have transformed the medium from niche activity to major media channel in under ten years. As such, advertisers should be putting more money into the audio category – because people are filling more of their days with more and more audio.”