Study: Westwood One NFL Delivers 64M Season Reach

RADIO ONLINE | Monday, September 15, 2025 | 1:50pm CT

Cumulus Media | Westwood One Audio Active Group

A new Cumulus Media | Westwood One Audio Active Group analysis finds the NFL on Westwood One delivers powerful cumulative reach for marketers across the season, highlighted by a first-of-its-kind Nielsen "panel unification" of 80,000 Portable People Meter (PPM) panelists.

Commissioned by Cumulus Media | Westwood One, Nielsen tracked a single major brand that advertised in every week of the NFL season and postseason, including the Super Bowl. Using actual week-by-week exposure (not modeled estimates), Nielsen quantified how the campaign's reach built over the league's 22-week arc. The brand's Westwood One NFL reach grew twelvefold-from 2.1 million in Week 1 to 18 million by the end of the regular season-then added 5.8 million more in the playoffs for a total of 23.8 million.

Westwood One says its NFL play-by-play broadcasts reach 64 million Americans across the season. The network has been the NFL's exclusive network radio partner since 1987 and carries roughly 100 primetime games each season. All primetime broadcasts are available on the new Westwood One Sports app, with distribution across 700 U.S. radio stations and their streams, plus simulcasts on SiriusXM, the NFL app, and smart speakers. About half of the audience listens via AM/FM and half via streaming/SiriusXM, and more than 80% of the Westwood One NFL audience is reached in-car.

The blog outlines five reasons to include the NFL on Westwood One in media plans:

• More engaged: Sports listeners show higher passion, giving audio ads greater impact (MRI-Simmons).

• Mass reach: Buying deep in-game and across the season taps a reported 64 million cumulative reach.

• Point of purchase: NFL audio reaches on-the-go consumers whose "best available screen" is in-car AM/FM.

• Desirable consumers: Young, employed, and upscale profiles with stronger spending power.

• Makes TV better: Audio play-by-play amplifies reach and frequency of NFL TV campaigns.

To demonstrate outcomes, Cumulus Media | Westwood One's Audio Active Group cites 10 measurement case studies across categories including B2B (CDW), online sports betting, motorcycle, mobile app, QSR, retail, telecom, a prescription discount subscription, and two financial services firms-showing lifts in brand equity, incremental reach, and purchase intent when paired with NFL play-by-play.

Read the full blog post here.