The New iPod Nano Gives Radio A Second Chance Among Younger Listeners

Two-thirds (66%) of Americans aged 18-34 show an active interest in the pause-and-rewind feature of the new FM tuner. The interactive features of the FM tuner in Apple’s new iPod Nano show potential to energize interest among younger demographics who are the heaviest users of mp3 players.
This is one of the main findings of an online survey of 1,185 American adults conducted by the Radio Research division of Vision Critical Communications. Parallel surveys were also conducted among Canadian and British adults showing similar results. The interactive features of the FM tuner generate considerable interest— particularly among 18-34 year-olds. When presented with the specific features of the FM tuner:

• 47% of Americans aged 18 and older say they are “very interested” in the ability to pause and rewind songs they hear on the radio. This rises to 66% among 18-34 year-olds.
• The opportunity to see the name of the song using the Nano’s RDS display also has strong appeal. In all, 41% of Americans and 55% of 18-34 year-olds express an active interest in this feature.
• Consumers show somewhat less interest in the ability to “tag” songs for future purchase. Twenty-eight percent (28%) of Americans aged 18 and older are “very interested” in this feature, but this increases to 45% of 18-34 year olds.

Of the five features from the new Ipod Nano that were presented in the survey, American adults rank an FM tuner #3 in terms of overall interest.

American adults in general show greater active interest in the Nano’s larger display screen (with 46% indicating they are “very” interested) and the new video camera (45% “very” interested) than in an FM tuner (34%) when the tuner is presented on its own prior to mentioning its specific features. Interest in an FM tuner is however well above the active interest expressed in the voice recorder (21%) and the pedometer (17%).

• Interest in and usage of mp3 players and the iPod Nano are highest among 18-34 year-olds.
• Thirty-two percent (32%) of 18-34 year-olds report listening “daily” to mp3s. This compares to only 14% of all Americans aged 18 and older.
• Fifteen percent (15%) of 18-34 year-olds say they currently use an iPod Nano, vs. 8% of American adults in general.

Full survey results by demographic category and country are available on request here.