Arbitron gave some highlights from its RADAR 107 National Radio Listening Report, which is scheduled for release on 12/13. The report shows an increase of 3.3 million radio listeners 12+ per week, versus the December 2009 report. The number of Persons 12+ listening to radio each week now reaches an estimated 239.8 million, that’s 93.2% of all Persons 12+.
While the news came out this week that the Media Rating Council (MRC) had withdrawn its accreditation for RADAR, because the withdrawal occurred late in the production cycle for the release of the RADAR 107 estimates, representation of accreditation from software, data files and related materials will not be removed.
Going forward, buyers tell us that RADAR is still the best thing going in national radio measurement and should remain the currency: “While we would certainly prefer RADAR be accredited, we continue to believe it is best source to use as currency in negotiating network radio. As such, we would encourage all national radio suppliers use RADAR to measure all of the offerings, with single source measurement as the ultimate goal across all of National Radio,” Ira Berger, Director of National Broadcast, The Richards Group, tells RBR-TVBR.
In addition to Persons 12+, radio listening increased YOY across major demos, with Adults aged 18 to 34 showing the biggest gains. That demo’s weekly radio listeners increased nearly 960,000 in the past year. Adults aged 18 to 49 grew by more than 800,000 and Adults aged 25 to 54 gained more than 750,000 in the same period. Meanwhile, Teens aged 12 to 17 continue to embrace radio broadcasts with an average weekly increase of 365,000 versus last year’s report.
Despite the proliferation of competing media platforms, radio continues to reach just about everyone on a regular basis. RADAR 107 indicates that, over the course of a week, radio is listened to by over 92% of all Teens aged 12 to 17, by 94% of Adults aged 18 to 34 and by 95% of Adults aged 18 to 49 and Adults aged 25 to 54.
Highlights:
• Overall, radio continues to reach more than 93% of Black (non-Hispanic) Persons aged 12 and older and more than 95% of Hispanics aged 12+ on a weekly basis. Hispanic listeners 12+ grew more than 1.4 million year over year.
• More Hispanic Teens aged 12 to 17 are tuning in to radio, versus the same period a year ago. This demographic group increased 177,000 average weekly listeners a week, year over year.
• Black (non-Hispanic) and Hispanic Adults aged 18 to 49 showed the biggest gains in overall weekly radio listenership versus last year, showing an increase of 165,000 and 834,000 respectively.
On an average week, radio reached 95% of Adults 18+ with a household income of $75K or more. More than 96% of Adults aged 25 to 54 that are college graduates and have a household income of over $50K tune in to radio weekly. Radio also delivers 96% of Adults aged 18 to 49 with a college degree.
The sample size for the RADAR107 Report is 395,198 persons aged 12+.
