Nielsen Serves Up Impressive Data On Country Music And Its Fans

Country Music: It's Kind Of A Big Deal

As the entire Country music industry preps for next week’s "50TH ANNUAL CMA AWARDS,” set for WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2nd at 8p (ET) on ABC-TV, the gang at NIELSEN took a deep and wide look at Country music – radio, fans, behaviors – providing some interesting statistics worth noting.

According to NIELSEN, there were 4,002 total stations serving Country in 2015, up sharply from the 2,874 total in 2008. The total share of listening for Country in ’15 was 14.4%, making it the top radio format in the U.S. Median household income for a Country music attendee clocked in at $65,000, about 26% more than the average U.S. adult. Oh, and the average age of a Country concert attendee? 44.5 years old, says NIELSEN.

Also, NIELSEN came up with something they call an “N-Score,” which calculates the endorsement and marketing potential of actors, athletes, musicians, and celebrities. CARRIE UNDERWOOD scores a 90 – highest among her Country music peers and comfortably inside the top 50 overall, along with FRANK SINATRA, MATT DAMON and MICHAEL JORDAN. If you know who KEITH URBAN is and consider him successful, you’re not alone, as 71% of people feel that way. Two more quick factoids about Country fans: they love pets and sports, with 74% buying pet food annually ($226 annually, on average), with 70% saying sports are important to them. See the entire piece here.

NIELSEN also looked at television ratings performances for the CMA AWARDS, tracking it back to the first live telecast in 1969, which pulled a household rating of 20.7 and drawing more than 23 million viewers. Compare that to the 2015 telecast, which earned an 8.2 share/14 rating and drew 13.6 million viewers. The highest-ever rated CMAs? Well, the 1976 awards earned a 27.3 rating/41 share and 34.3 million viewers, but the 1978 CMAs drew more total viewers at 36 million while earning a 25.3 rating/39 share.

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