At the 2024 NAB Show, Futuri Media CEO Daniel Anstandig joined Ameca, the AI-powered humanoid robot to share findings from a comprehensive study on AI’s role in media.
Futuri’s “AI in Media Study” surveyed nearly 5,200 media consumers across the United States, including 2,624 radio listeners. The study revealed powerful insights into audience perceptions, expectations, and the future of AI-powered media content. CMG Custom Research, the in-house research team for CMG radio and television stations, conducted the study. It was responsible for the insights that power their high-performing radio brands and hundreds of advertiser campaigns each year.
The findings challenge the traditional radio and audio content production approach, suggesting a shift towards openness to human-AI collaboration. “Futuri’s study shows that audiences are open to media’s adoption of AI for content creation,” Aanstandig said. “One in five listeners believe they already listen to a radio station using AI. Listeners also believe that AI will assist media in creating more relevant and engaging content. They want to be informed of its use and for it to be used in the right scenarios.” This highlights the need for a balance between human creativity and AI efficiency.
Anstandig added, “This study reveals an industry at the dawn of an AI revolution. The demand for content, in general, is at an all-time high, and AI promises to make broadcast teams capable of generating the sheer volume of audio content across multiple platforms that audiences demand.”
Key insights
Key insights from the study include the following:
- Familiarity with AI:
- 88% of respondents are aware of AI.
- 59% have knowingly used AI.
- Virtually all respondents use at least one AI-powered tool in a typical week, ranging from virtual assistants like Siri/Google/Alexa, traffic apps, health and fitness apps, search engines, and social media services that personalize or customize content.
- People cannot easily distinguish between human and AI audio content:
- Presented with paired samples of AI-generated voices created using Futuri’s AudioAI and human voices, 60% of the time, they identified the AI as human and the human as AI.
- Audiences have a growing desire for customizable AI hosts:
- 45% of respondents expressed interest in personalizing the personality of AI-driven radio or podcast hosts.
- 41% of respondents showed interest in tailoring the type of content delivered, indicating a strong consumer desire for customized media experiences.
- Audience readiness for AI:
- One in five people in the U.S. believe they already listen to a radio station using AI. This is not true in practice. 89% of radio listeners said AI would be definitely or somewhat likely to improve song selection and introduction, and 86% said it would be definitely or somewhat likely to improve song selection. 85% of radio listeners believe that AI would be definitely or somewhat likely to improve their experience of weather reports and forecasts. Three-quarters of listeners said talk show topics would be improved if AI were used behind the scenes.
- 90% expressed a desire for open disclosure of AI being used to create content or create on-air voices.
Broadcasters can access Futuri’s “AI in Media Study” here.
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