More Than 239 Million Listen to Radio Every Week

Radio reaches more than 239 million persons ages 12 and older during a typical week, or 93.1% of listeners 12+, according to the RADAR 104 National Radio Listening Report which is due out March 22. These listeners tune to the more than 7,200 RADAR Network affiliated stations, up from 212 million listeners one year ago.

Since the December, 2007 RADAR 95 report, national radio listening estimates and network radio audience reports have been based on PPM data from within commercialized PPM markets and on diary respondents from the balance of the U.S. The combination of PPM and diary respondents have shown more listeners to radio over the course of a week versus the 2007 RADAR listening reports which were based on diary respondents alone.

Read more at Radio-Online.com

Nielsen Study Finds 77% of Adults Listen to Radio

A Nielsen study of media use, conducted by the Council for Research Excellence (CRE), found that 77% of adults are reached by broadcast radio on a daily basis, second only to television at 95%. The study, in which consumers were physically observed consuming media throughout the day, found that Web/Internet (excluding e-mail) reached 64%, newspaper 35% and magazines 27%. Read more at Radio-Online.com

For Boomers, Integrated Media Strategies Are Necessary

Earlier this year, Forrester Research released its five year advertising forecast which found that marketers were shifting substantial advertising dollars out of traditional media and into interactive channels such as mobile marketing, display ads, search, social media and email.

Yet, marketers who rely too heavily on interactive channels, at the expense of traditional channels, risk losing out on the lucrative Boomer segment that are avid multi-media consumers. In fact, unlike other age groups, Boomers consume a daily, balanced diet of media from multiple traditional and interactive sources with traditional media -- television, radio, and newspapers -- providing their daily "squares."

Consider these statistics:

Television

• Boomers spend, on average, 9.5 hours a day on "screen" time activities -- e.g., television, computer, mobile phones, video games -- with the largest percentage of time spent on television.

• 77% of Boomer's daily viewing occurs between 7:30 pm and 11 pm, when they are most likely to watch The Discovery Channel, A&E, the Food Network, ESPN and Fox News.

Radio

• 76% listen to the radio -- more than any other demographic -- with half listening during morning drive-time and their programming preferences vary from oldies to country to talk shows.

Read more at MediaPost.com