Nielsen: Radio Listening Increases

[TheBigA]

Nielsen's latest PPM ratings show an increase in radio listening. Not because people have thrown away digital devices and returned to broadcast radios. But apparently because of a change in the way Nielsen measures the audience. PPM now measures listening based on 3-minutes rather than 5 minutes:

Nielsen Spring 2025 Portable People Meter AM/FM Radio Audiences Up +19%; Format Shares Remarkably Stable As The Rising PPM Tide Raises All Format Boats | Westwood One

Nielsen has released all Spring 2025 (April-May-June) Portable People Meter markets. There are significant increases in listening across demographics and time periods versus Fall 2024.

www.westwoodone.com

There were hints of this back in March:

Nielsen’s Three-Minute Qualifier Increases Audience All Day In Key Demos.

There’s more good news from Nielsen’s January 2025 PPMs, the first to reflect the shift from a five- to a three-minute qualifier needed for quarter-hour credit, based on October 2024-to-January

www.insideradio.com

I became aware of this when I read the Research Director analysis of the ratings in several markets. They all reported a large increase in PUMM (formerly people using radio). Someone asked why. I said I didn't know. Then I read Pierre's article linked above and it now makes sense. People have short attention spans when it comes to radio. They tune in and if a song comes on they don't like, they tune away. But they still use radio, so they should be measured. The three minute standard allows for this behavior.

The next question is if it would change the way spots are scheduled. Here's what Bouvard says in his latest article:

Two-minute ad breaks retain 99% of the lead-in audience. Six-minute ad breaks retain 85% of the lead in audience.
Creating more ad breaks of shorter duration generates larger commercial audiences. Advertisers stand out more in shorter breaks. Growing audience deliveries for AM/FM radio ads improve AM/FM radio’s performance in media mix modeling and marketing effectiveness studies.

If changes are going to happen, they will require all stakeholders to agree. That means advertisers will need to agree with this, and push for it in ad scheduling.

 

[TheBigA]

More here:

Radio Ratings Soar Higher In Q2 Under Nielsen 3-Minute Rule - Radio Ink

AM/FM radio saw a 19% AQH increase among adults 25–54 in Nielsen’s Spring 2025 PPM ratings, with nights and weekends leading.

radioink.com

Radio’s Audience Delivery Shot Up 19% In Spring PPM Survey.

Nielsen’s three-minute listening qualifier, implemented in all PPM markets in January, captures more audience by including previously uncounted short-duration listening. But how much more? In the Spring 2025 PPM survey

www.insideradio.com

 

[ted chittenden]

Nielsen's latest PPM ratings show an increase in radio listening. Not because people have thrown away digital devices and returned to broadcast radios. But apparently because of a change in the way Nielsen measures the audience. PPM now measures listening based on 3-minutes rather than 5 minutes:

Nielsen Spring 2025 Portable People Meter AM/FM Radio Audiences Up +19%; Format Shares Remarkably Stable As The Rising PPM Tide Raises All Format Boats | Westwood One

Nielsen has released all Spring 2025 (April-May-June) Portable People Meter markets. There are significant increases in listening across demographics and time periods versus Fall 2024.

www.westwoodone.com

There were hints of this back in March:

Nielsen’s Three-Minute Qualifier Increases Audience All Day In Key Demos.

There’s more good news from Nielsen’s January 2025 PPMs, the first to reflect the shift from a five- to a three-minute qualifier needed for quarter-hour credit, based on October 2024-to-January

www.insideradio.com

I became aware of this when I read the Research Director analysis of the ratings in several markets. They all reported a large increase in PUMM (formerly people using radio). Someone asked why. I said I didn't know. Then I read Pierre's article linked above and it now makes sense. People have short attention spans when it comes to radio. They tune in and if a song comes on they don't like, they tune away. But they still use radio, so they should be measured. The three minute standard allows for this behavior.

The next question is if it would change the way spots are scheduled. Here's what Bouvard says in his latest article:



If changes are going to happen, they will require all stakeholders to agree. That means advertisers will need to agree with this, and push for it in ad scheduling.

It's the bottom part of your message that most interests me. If audiences are willing to stay during shorter commercial breaks spread out more often during the hour, then it stands to reason that we could (I won't say will--as noted, all stakeholders have to agree) possibly see a shift towards the kind and amount of advertising during the heyday of AM top-40 radio of the 1960s and 1970s.

 

[TheBigA]

It's the bottom part of your message that most interests me. If audiences are willing to stay during shorter commercial breaks spread out more often during the hour, then it stands to reason that we could (I won't say will--as noted, all stakeholders have to agree) possibly see a shift towards the kind and amount of advertising during the heyday of AM top-40 radio of the 1960s and 1970s.

Maybe. We'll see. The hardest part is to get advertisers to agree, and then have the traffic structure change. A body at rest tends to stay the same. A lot of people have to agree that this is a good thing. It took a while to get to two breaks an hour. So it'll take time to reverse it. The real problem though is people just don't like commercials, regardless of the break length.