Arbitron Releases Radio Today 2013 Study

RADIO ONLINE | Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Today Arbitron released the results of their Radio Today 2013 study. While the full report is available only to Arbitron clients, the following are some of the study's highlights:

• Country + New Country, already No. 1 in last year's report, grew again to remain in first place and reach another record audience share. The format benefited most from an influx of listeners aged 18-24 and is even No. 2 among teen listeners nationally.
• News/Talk/Information + Talk/Personality remained No. 1 in PPM markets and No. 2 in the rest of the U.S. The 2,121 rated AM, FM, HD Radio, and streamed stations in these formats far exceed any other format. Like other spoken word formats, N/T/I + T/P rank prominently in highly educated, high income listeners.
• Pop Contemporary Hit Radio (Pop CHR) continued its fiery pace of recent years and this year moved from fourth to third-most-popular radio format when ranked by AQH share. What's more, Pop CHR's 72 million weekly listeners is tops among all radio formats, supplanting AC + Soft AC as the No. 1 format on a cume basis. Nearly 30% of teen females nationally listen to Pop CHR stations.
• Adult Contemporary + Soft Adult Contemporary's 69 million 12+ listeners is off from previous years, due in part to the surge in Country, Pop CHR, and Hot AC listening. The formats boast high-income, highly educated (mostly female) listeners and they remain strong in the midday daypart, reinforcing their reputations as "at-work" strongholds.
• Classic Hits has steadily replaced Oldies as the format to play pop hits from recent decades. As such, it reached a ratings high in Spring 2012.The format has a near-equal male-female gender share and it performs equally well in all market sizes.
• Classic Rock registered its highest audience share in a decade and remains a reliable performer in all market sizes and rates highly among its core demographic of 45- to 54-year-old men (the format's 70% male composition ranks fourth-most-male among the 22 formats in this year's study).
• Hot Adult Contemporary (Hot AC) experienced the second largest growth spurt in this year's study and achieved a national historical high. Its gains were notable among teens, adults 18-24, and adults 35-44.