Radio’s Audience Remains Steady Over the Past Year
241.2 million persons aged 12 and older tune to radio each week
COLUMBIA, MD; March 13, 2012—Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB) announced today highlights from its March 2012 RADAR® 112 National Radio Listening Report. The report shows radio’s audience remains steady with 241.2 million people aged 12 and older tuning in on a weekly basis, representing approximately 93% of the population.
In addition to maintaining its audience of persons aged 12 and older, young radio listeners continue to hold steady year over year with persons aged 12 to 17 remaining flat at 22.7 million weekly listeners. Adults aged 18 to 34 also remained nearly unchanged compared to RADAR March 2011 data. There are currently 66.4 million adults aged 18 to 34 tuning in to radio on a weekly basis. Radio continues to attract 126.2 million adults aged 18 to 49 and 119.4 million adults aged 25 to 54 on a weekly basis.
Radio’s Diversity
Radio’s diverse listener base continues to grow, with the number of weekly listeners increasing among Black (non-Hispanic) and Hispanic persons aged 12 and older.
- The March 2012 RADAR report shows a significant increase in Hispanic listeners. Radio’s Hispanic audience aged 12 and older grew by nearly 2 million versus the March 2011 report. Radio reaches 95% of Hispanics aged 12 and older.
- Hispanic Adults aged 18 to 49 increased the most over the past year, adding nearly 1 million weekly listeners.
- Black (non-Hispanic) listeners also grew year over year, gaining 391,000 weekly listeners aged 12 and older. Radio reaches approximately 93% of the Black (non-Hispanic) population.
Radio Delivers Affluent, Educated Adults
The March 2012 RADAR illustrates radio’s ability to attract affluent, educated consumers. More than 71 million adults aged 18 to 49 with a household income of $75K or more tune in to radio on a weekly basis. And, 26 million adults aged 25 to 54 with a household income of $75K and a college education tune into radio weekly.
Note: Some fluctuation in the March 2012 RADAR data is due to the inclusion of 2010 Census population estimates projected to 2012.
About RADAR March 2012
Arbitron RADAR (Radio’s All Dimension Audience Research) March 2012 is the standard currency for national network radio ratings and measures 46 individual radio networks. These networks are operated by American Urban Radio Networks, Crystal Media Networks, Cumulus Media Networks, Dial Global Inc., Premiere Radio Networks, and United Stations Radio Networks.
The sample size for the RADAR March 2012 Report is 395,561 persons aged 12 and older. This large sample is designed to provide more stability for key demographic estimates, dayparts, and Market-by-Market Analysis reports, which report all individual DMAs®.
The RADAR March 2012 Report includes data from all 48 Arbitron PPM™ markets. The survey dates for RADAR 112 were from January 6, 2011 to December 7, 2011.
About Arbitron Inc.
Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB) is an international media and marketing research firm serving the media—radio, television, cable, and out-of-home—the mobile industry, as well as advertising agencies and advertisers around the world. Arbitron's businesses include: measuring network and local market radio audiences across the United States; surveying the retail, media, and product patterns of U.S. consumers; providing mobile audience measurement and analytics in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia; and developing application software used for analyzing media audience and marketing information data.
The Company has developed the Portable People Meter™ (PPM™) and the PPM 360™, new technologies for media and marketing research.
Portable People Meter™, PPM™, and PPM 360™ are marks of Arbitron Inc.
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RADAR® is a registered trademark of Arbitron Inc. DMA® is a registered service mark of Nielsen Media Research, Inc., and is used pursuant to a license from Nielsen Media Research, Inc.
