Radio's Surge In Listening Can Help Businesses Recover

RADIO ONLINE | Tuesday, May 25, 2021 | 2:51pm CT

Westwood One

This week's Westwood One blog looks at the latest Nielsen Portable People Meter data from April as well as economic factors and miles-traveled data for the country. With America back on the move and vehicular traffic up, AM/FM radio's surge in listening can help businesses recover. According to Nielsen's recently released consumer purchase study, purchase intentions among AM/FM radio listeners are +36% greater than TV viewers.

• In PPM markets, AM/FM radio's audience reach for April 2021 was the highest since the pandemic started, notching a 98% recovery index versus March 2020.

• AM/FM radio's average quarter-hour audience in the PPM markets grew to the highest point since the pandemic began at a 95% recovery index versus March 2020.

• In markets outside the top 50 measured by the personal diary, Nielsen reports that AM/FM radio audiences are incredibility stable having experienced very slight reach loses in Spring 2020, which immediately recovered. January-February-March 2021 AM/FM radio reach in the diary markets is identical to the same period a year ago.

• Geopath reports April 2021 miles traveled surged +67% versus April 2020. Compared to April 2019, vehicular miles traveled completely recovered.

• In April 2021, Apple Maps car trip search requests were +36% greater than before the pandemic, marking their highest levels since September 2020.

• The Federal Reserve reports in April 2021, 62% of workers commuted full time and 18% commuted some days. 20% are working from home, 12 points greater than pre-pandemic.

• COVID concern is subsiding according to Google search trends. In early May 2021, Google search trends for the term "COVID" neared its lowest level since the pandemic, 60% below the November peak.

• Moody's Analytics back-to-normal index rises to the highest level since pandemic. Moody's Analytics created the "back to normal" index from a variety of economic activity data sources including measures of output, labor market activity, travel and leisure activity, housing market activity, and consumer behavior. Throughout 2021, the Moody's back-to-normal index has been steadily rising and is now at a high of 88.