Industry News

WWO: AM/FM Radio Tops TV Among Persons 18-49

The latest blog post from Cumulus Media | Westwood One’s Audio Active Group features data from Nielsen’s Total Audience Report for Q3 of 2023 that indicates “AM/FM radio’s persons 18-49 average audience is now +5% greater than television.” Other takeaways from the research include: 1) Sinceim 2018, Nielsen’s Total Audience Report reveals the 18-49 weekly reach of live and time-shifted TV has dropped -26%. Over the same period, TV’s daily time spent is down -59%; 2) cord-cutting is a major driver of TV’s audience collapse: The MRI Simmons January 2023 “How Americans Watch TV” report reveals 51% have cut the cord; 3) While a huge number of Americans have abandoned traditional TV for streaming, AM/FM radio remains the dominant audio platform: According to Edison Research’s Q2 2023 “Share of Ear,” AM/FM radio has a massive 69% share of U.S. ad-supported audio. AM/FM radio audience shares are over 17 times larger than ad-supported Pandora and ad-supported Spotify. See the full blog post here.