Nuvoodoo Research: Leigh Jacobs & Carolyn Gilbert
The latest NuVoodoo national study includes the opinions of nearly 3000 respondents aged 14 and older. This means we have complete samples of Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and almost all of Gen Z. Three fourths of the sample is younger than Baby Boomers. Generation Alpha will start to show up in our sample in a couple of years.
Despite being mentioned so often in the news, most of our sample hasn’t used AI yet. It’s the Baby Boomers, unsurprisingly, who are least likely to have touched AI – yet a majority of Gen X has managed to avoid AI to date. And it’s worth noting that there are sizeable groups of Millennials and Gen Z who’ve not yet used AI.
According to their own self-assessment, only a quarter regularly use digital voice assistants like Siri and Alexa. If you’re regularly interacting with a digital voice, you’re more likely to imagine these non-human entities as helpful and non-threatening. While the numbers regularly using Siri and Alexa are higher among Millennials (and Gen Z), most are not yet interacting with these entities regularly.
We gave respondents a choice between two podcasts or radio shows they might hear. We specified one as having “hosts who have very pleasant voices and sound very natural, but are AI generated” and another where “the voices are not as polished, but you know they are actual human beings.” Humans pull a plurality of every demo breakout we have, but a third of the Millennials said they’d prefer AI voices – along with about a quarter of Gen Z.
It’s notable that comparatively large numbers selected “Not sure” when given this choice. People are better at reacting to things. Most can’t imagine what an AI-generated show would sound like but might be looking for something different than what they currently hear. So, while they won’t opt for the unknown AI show, they also won’t vote for the unpolished human show.
Broken out by current heavy users of music radio, talk radio, and podcasts we see comparatively higher interest in AI-generated shows among podcast listeners (37%) and comparatively lower acceptance among heavy music radio listeners (27%). In the end, this decision is more likely to be driven by how entertaining, how relevant, or how informative the content in question is, rather than who or what is providing the voice.
We remain of the opinion that local, live radio hosts are most critical when it simply comes to being able to show up at community events and client locations. AI can be a tremendous extension of staff and resources, but it can’t shake hands or appear in front of an in-person crowd.
For even deeper dives into NuVoodoo Media and Marketing Study 25, NuVoodoo marketing guru Mike O’Connor is publishing important marketing insights twice every week at nuvoodoo.com/articles. NuVoodoo would love to help your stations stay ahead of the competition with our effectively priced offerings for both marketing and research. An email to tellmemore@nuvoodoo.com will get you quick attention from the right member of our team.
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