Brands only spending on television this football season are missing out. New research finds that AM/FM listeners following the NFL season rate their engagement higher than video viewers, mute TV broadcasts to hear the radio call, and tune in earlier across the year.
The findings, analyzed by the Cumulus Media/Westwood One Audio Active Group, draw on a Westwood One-commissioned Quantilope survey of 750 adults conducted in February, a companion study fielded in June 2026, and 2026 Winter MRI-Simmons USA data.
Radio listeners rated their passion for the 2025 NFL season at an average of 8.5 on a 10-point scale, compared with 7.9 among video viewers. Sixty percent of the audio audience rated their engagement a nine or 10, versus 46% of the video audience, and 39% of Westwood One listeners said they have muted their television broadcast to hear the radio call.
Listeners proved receptive to advertising on the medium, too. AM/FM radio listeners were 92% more likely than TV viewers to be “super influential” consumers across categories including automobiles, coffee and finance, per 2026 Winter MRI-Simmons data. Twenty-seven percent said radio advertising gives them useful bargain information, compared with 8% of TV viewers who said the same about television ads.
Sports betting activity tracked closely with audio consumption. AM/FM radio listeners to Sunday, Monday and Thursday Night Football indexed at 360 on a sports betting scale where 100 represents the population average, compared with 213 for TV viewers of the same games.
The audience also proved highly cross-platform. Streaming and satellite tune-in outpaced over-the-air AM/FM listening three to one, and 59% of all NFL fans heard some portion of NFL radio broadcast audio during the 2025 season, spread across AM/FM radio, the NFL App, SiriusXM, smart speakers and the Westwood One app. Younger fans led that shift: 74% of listeners 18-34 heard NFL audio during the season, compared with 59% of all fans, and were more than twice as likely to hear it through the NFL App.
For advertisers already running NFL TV campaigns, the audio buy proved additive rather than duplicative. Among adults 25-54 who followed the 2025 season, 24% listened to Westwood One’s NFL audio without watching any TV coverage, putting incremental audio-only reach at roughly 32% against the TV-reachable base. Among all NFL fans, more than a third of the entire game-day audience was reached by Westwood One alone, per a companion June 2026 Quantilope study.
Postseason listeners proved the most engaged of all. Postseason AM/FM radio listeners scored 52% higher on average across 11 sports passion and engagement metrics than postseason TV viewers, and were 43% more likely to influence other consumers’ purchases, according to 2026 Winter MRI-Simmons data.
