Nielsen Study Finds AM/FM Radio The 'Soundtrack To U.S. Economic Recovery'

Westwood One's Nielsen Findings

A new WESTWOOD ONE blog highlights fresh results from NIELSEN of a new national consumer study of 1,000 respondents that was conducted OCTOBER 1st-5th. This is fourth in a series of studies that have tracked the pandemic’s impact on consumer movement, spending, attitudes, and media usage, and can be viewed here.. 

Some of the pertinent findings:

Commuting surge: There is a +56% increase in the number of Americans working outside the home. NIELSEN reports 61% of U.S. workers are now commuting to their workplace, up from 39% in early MAY.

The number of at-home workers is down -55%. As of early OCTOBER, NIELSEN finds 19% of those employed are working at home, down from 42% in MAY.  

In SEPTEMBER, 69% of U.S. workers commuted to work and 20% worked from home. A just-released national commuting study from the DALLAS FEDERAL RESERVE shows, as of SEPTEMBER 2020, 69% of those who were employed pre-pandemic were commuting to work. 20% were working from home and 11% were not employed.

Half of AMERICAN schoolchildren are driven to school with AM/FM radio playing in the car. 50% say their children are driven to school (3% carpool, 47% parent/family member). 44% of AMERICAN schoolchildren are taking the bus. 62% indicate that AM/FM radio is always on, and 35% say AM/FM radio is sometimes on in the car. 

AM/FM radio’s audience recovery, and time spent in the car is powered by commuting increases and a return to school. From MAY to OCTOBER, NIELSEN finds daily time spent in the car has grown +81% from 36 minutes in MAY to 65 minutes in OCTOBER. Among heavy AM/FM radio listeners, daily time spent in the car has doubled from an hour and six minutes a day to two hours and eleven minutes.

AM/FM radio is the soundtrack of the U.S. economic recovery. Across 29 purchase categories, heavy AM/FM radio listeners show stronger purchase intentions compared to heavy TV viewers.

The economy will affect holiday shopping, but AM/FM radio listeners will spend more than the average. A greater proportion of heavy AM/FM radio listeners say they will spend more this holiday (14%) versus heavy TV viewers (10%) and the overall market (10%). 

« see more Net News