Radio Listening Audience Remains Steady, According to the RADAR December 2012 Report
Adults aged 18 to 34 again shows the largest gain in weekly radio listeners, increasing by more than 600,000
COLUMBIA, MD; December 3, 2012—Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB) announced today highlights from its December 2012 RADAR® 115 National Radio Listening Report. The report shows radio’s audience holding steady year over year, reaching more than 241 million listeners, or more than 92% of the U.S. population, on an average weekly basis.
Adults 18 to 34 shows the largest gains among the major age demographics, adding more than 600,000 weekly listeners. Radio now reaches nearly 67 million adults aged 18-34 in an average week. Radio listening also remains steady across all other major demographics. Radio reaches nearly 126 million adults aged 18 to 49 and more than 119 million adults aged 25 to 54 in an average week.
Radio’s Diversity
Radio’s diverse listener base continues to see large increases in the December 2012 RADAR study compared to the December 2011 study.
- Radio’s Hispanic audience aged 12 and older rises by nearly 2.5 million listeners versus the December 2011 report. Radio reaches nearly 95% of Hispanics aged 12 and older.
- Hispanic adults aged 25 to 54 shows an impressive increase over the past year, rising by more than 1.8 million weekly listeners.
- The Black (non-Hispanic) audience also shows significant gains. Radio among Black (non-Hispanic) listeners aged 12 and older increases by more than 920,000 versus December 2011. Radio reaches approximately 92.4% of the Black (non-Hispanic) population.
- Black (non-Hispanic) adults aged 18 to 34 continues to show significant gains, adding nearly half a million average weekly listeners versus last year.
Radio Delivers Affluent, Educated Adults
The December 2012 RADAR report illustrates radio’s ability to attract affluent, educated consumers. More than 95% of adults aged 25 to 54 with a household income of $75K or more and a college degree tune in to radio on a weekly basis, that’s nearly 26 million listeners in this demographic. Also, nearly 70 million, or 94%, of Adults aged 18 to 49 with a household income of $75K or more tune into radio on a weekly basis.
About RADAR December 2012
Arbitron RADAR (Radio’s All Dimension Audience Research) December 2012 is the standard currency for national network radio ratings and measures 49 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 December 2012 Report is 395,823 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 December 2012 Report includes data from all 48 Arbitron PPM™ markets. The survey dates for RADAR 115 were from September 15, 2011 to September 12, 2012.
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.
