As radio’s role with Black audiences remains both culturally rooted and commercially material, Nielsen’s latest Audio Today update is tying a recent boost in the medium’s momentum among the demographic to the company’s new 3-minute PPM qualifier.
The adjusted Average Quarter Hour listening qualifier, which aligns radio metrics more closely with digital measurement, shows increased average audiences, impressions, and gross rating points among Black listeners. In PPM markets across Q1 2025 versus Q4 2024, average-quarter-hour levels climbed between 12% and 18% for key Black demos and dayparts, including AM drive, mid-day, PM drive, and weekends.
Comprehensively, radio is the leading reach medium for Black Americans, with 92% tuning in monthly.
Reach remains high across age and gender cohorts: 87% for Black Adults 18–34 and 91% for those 25–54, with a similar 89% reach among Black Men and Black Women 18–49.
Edison Research’s Share of Ear further illustrates radio’s success in ad-supported audio for Black listeners. AM/FM captures nearly three-quarters of daily ad-supported listening among Black consumers, a level that sits roughly 14 points above the general population. The car remains central to that strength: 86% of ad-supported audio use in the vehicle goes to AM/FM among Black listeners.
Format performance is led by Urban Adult Contemporary (R&B) and Urban Contemporary (Hip-Hop/R&B). Combined, these two formats account for 50.2% of all radio listening among Black adults. Rhythmic CHR commonly ranks third across demos.
For marketers, the report highlights both efficiency and responsiveness.
Nielsen cites a recent plan analysis using Nielsen Media Impact in which shifting 20% of an existing media mix to Black-owned or Black-targeted radio stations achieved one month’s prior reach in a single week. Separately, results from the Attitudes on Ads study indicate Black consumers are twice as likely as the general population to try products promoted on local radio.
Nielsen’s Audio Today report is out now.
