Temps de lecture : 5 min 55 s

The French public are fond of music, and almost the entire population listens to it. Radio, internet and television play an essential role in disseminating music, through very diverse offerings, to a range of audiences. How do listeners listen to music? On what media? What are their preferences? Médiamétrie examines these practices through its behavioural and audience studies.

Music listeners are eclectic in their habits

Music plays a very important role in the lives of French people: in 2024, 94% of 15-80 year-olds, i.e. 48 million people, said they listen to musical content during the month [1].

Music predominates when listening to audio content: it accounts for over two-thirds (69%) of listeners' listening time. When they listen to music, listeners adopt very diverse listening styles. They devote 39% of their listening time to music on the radio, 33% to music listened to via audio streaming, 13% to music played on video platforms as background music and 10% to personal music. The remainder is dedicated to music clips, concerts or shows on television and to festivals, concerts and musicals. For their part, 15-24 year olds give the most importance to music streaming, for which they are more likely to subscribe to a paid offer. Overall, 2 out of 3 monthly users of audio streaming prefer a free offer.

Once again, in terms of listening media, listeners make use of several options. They prefer listening to music on traditional devices – 35% of the volume of music listening – be it on radio, car radio or CD player, for example. Mobile phones also play an important role, with 31% of listening. Almost two-thirds (60%) of time spent listening to music is at home and 13% at the place of work or study.

When listeners don’t know what music to listen to, 45% of them look to the radio and 30% to audio music streaming. However, to listen to music they know, 37% favour streaming audio music, while 20% prefer to listen to the radio. Radio and music streaming are on par when it comes to setting the mood.

Regardless of the listening method – radio, streaming, web radio, personal music – French pop music is the most listened to musical style. However, rap holds a very important place among 15-24 year olds.

Almost one in 3 French people listen to music radio stations every day

With regard more specifically to radio, in April-June 2024, 30.6% of French people and 34.4% of 13-24 year olds listened to musical programs [2] every day. On average over 1 month, more than 3 in 4 people (75.9%) aged 13 and over, as well as 80.4% of 13-24 year olds, listened to at least one music station [3].

In 2023, listeners favoured music stations while driving [4].

Regardless of the place of listening, radio sets were the primary listening medium, followed by mobile phones. Voice-controlled speakers are also making good progress [5]. 

Older people have been won over by online streaming sites

Music streaming has increased significantly. In July 2024, 31.1 million unique visitors listened to music online via a music streaming platform during the month – or nearly one in two French people. This represents a 29% increase compared to 2019 [6]. Over the course of a day, there were 9.8 million Internet users on music streaming websites.

25-49 year olds are the biggest listeners of online music: 12.1 million per month, up 13% in 5 years. 3.9 million of them listened to it every day. 15-24 year olds came in second, at 6.3 million each month, up 19% in 5 years. 3.4 million of them listened to it every day. However, the biggest increases were observed among those aged 65 and over with 4.3 million unique monthly visitors (up 93% in 5 years) and those aged 50-64 with 6.1 million (up 42%). There were more women than men on music streaming websites: 16.2 million per month, while there were 14.8 million men.

A varied selection of music on television

As with radio, music has always been widely represented in the French audiovisual landscape, and this is still the case in 2024. 

Historically, the TOP 50 made music's heyday on television by broadcasting video clips. The Génération Top 50 show succeeded it on W9 until Génération Hit Machine replaced it on Sunday mornings in 2024. Between January and June 2024, Génération Hit Machine attracted an average of 124,000 viewers, or an audience share of 2.1% [7].

In addition to these programs, the audiovisual landscape has diversified with a strong music-based lineup that channels generally broadcast during prime time.

Music-themed games and talent shows are particularly well represented on TV channels. On France 2 in particular, N'oubliez pas les paroles in prime time access averaged 2.3 million viewers (14.8% audience share). 5.6 million viewers tuned in to the Eurovision Song Contest in prime time on 11 May 2024, achieving an audience share of 35.4%; 25-49 year olds made up 31% of the program’s audience and 50-64 year olds 26%.

On TF1, the latest edition of The Masked Singer, which was broadcast from May to June 2024, attracted an average of 3.3 million viewers for an audience share of 19.9%. The 25-49 age group accounted for 38% of the program’s audience. 3.7 million viewers watched The Voice on average for an audience share of 20.8% from February to May 2024.

A brand new TV game show on NRJ12, The Song: à vous de trouver la chanson, was broadcast in prime time access between April and June 2024.

The theme of music is also dealt with through Biopics, films, documentaries and interviews. In 2024, France 5 broadcast the show Fauteuils d'orchestre , which interviews classical musicians: 354,000 viewers watched the first episode broadcast in prime time on 14 June 2024 (an audience share 1.9%). Several biopics about performing artists have also been broadcast, including Elvis on France 2. Elvis, broadcast on television for the first time on 19 May 2024 in prime time, was watched by 2 million viewers, achieving a 12.1% audience share.

Another format, the field  of music on TV, is widely represented through live concerts and ceremonies. On TF1, 9.4 million viewers watched the annual Enfoirés Concert on 1^st March 2024 during prime time, thereby achieving a 44% audience share. An audience of 852,000 music lovers watched Musiques en fête, the live broadcast of the Chorégies d’Orange on France 3 and France 5, with the show achieving a 4.3% audience share. France 2 broadcast the annual Fête de la Musique Concert for the first time in 2024 and W9 the Les Flammes Ceremony, recognizing artists working in the world of hip-hop.

Very brief promotional programs were also broadcast on France 2 and W9. On France 2, 3 million viewers watched Basique: l'essentiel de la musique, achieving a 14.7% audience share for the January-June 2024 period.

Some television channels, such as Arte and W9, allocate slots in their programming schedules to music, usually at night or in the morning. The CSTAR music channel broadcasts many music programs and videos. For the biggest music fans, special interest channels are also completely dedicated to music: Mezzo, MTV Hits, MCM, NRJ Hits, Trace Urban and Culture Box.

Laure Osmanian Molinero