New data from Nielsen reinforces radio as the dominant reach medium during the daylight hours, capturing an average weekday total audience share of at least 32% of persons aged 18+ from 6am-4pm. It’s a finding the measurement giant says advertisers ought to consider when planning out their buy strategies.
“During those working hours, radio has a 30%-40% share based on Average Quarter Hour audience across all the media,” Nielsen VP of audience insights Tony Hereau tells Inside Radio. “That’s in stark contrast to the 9% of ad buys that it normally gets, so clearly there is opportunity at certain times of the day.”
One outsized opportunity would be in the 7am hour, where radio captures a stunning 40% share of the total media audience. While 7am is radio’s peak hour, the medium delivers big reach throughout the workday—36% during the 6am and 8am hours, 34% at 9am, 33% from 10am-1pm and 32% from 1pm-4pm. “Radio offers an opportunity that perhaps not everyone is aware of during the daylight hours,” Glenn Enoch, Nielsen senior VP of audience insights says. “It’s just tremendous.” For more than half the day, Monday-Friday from 5am-6pm, radio’s reach is 25% or more.
With a monthly reach of 259.7 million persons aged 12+, radio maintained its No. 1 reach status in Q2, edging out TV (253.3 million) for a second consecutive quarter.
Nielsen’s new Total Audience Report measures TV, radio, TV-connected devices, and PC, smartphone and tablet platforms. It indicates that television and radio reach the greatest number of people, although they peak at different hours of the day. Radio usage is greatest from 6am-6pm, while TV takes over at night, capturing at least half of all media consumption from 6pm-6am. The average audience for both radio and PCs tend to be lower on the weekends than during the weekdays and usage skews slightly later in the day.
