There’s been a lot of speculation that radio listening would be down with millions of cars no longer on the roads dues to government mandated stay-at-home orders. Westwood One’s Pierre Bouvard listened in to Nielsen’s client webinars this week and has posted a new blog about what the ratings company reported.
The webinars reviewed 45 markets of March PPM audience data covering the period of February 27, 2020 to March 25, 2020.
According to Bouvard, Nielsen says AM/FM radio has held on to 96% of its reach and 90% of its average quarter-hour audience. “Comparing March total audience deliveries to February, American AM/FM radio maintained nearly all of its audience. Cume and average quarter-hour audience (AQH) retention was consistent across demographics, race, and ethnicities.”
Nielsen also says that radio engagement in-home actually increased as the month of March went on. “Comparing weekly at-home time spent listening during March, Nielsen revealed a steady increase in persons 18+ time spent listening Monday-Friday, 6AM-7PM. In the last week of March, Americans spent 58 minutes a day listening to radio compared to 45 minutes a day in the first week of March, a +29% gain.”
Read Pierre’s blog HERE.
