How to Make the Most of an NPR Audio Campaign

Intimate. Immersive. Portable. Audio is a medium that creates connection. No one knows this better than NPR. As the #1 podcast publisher and home to the #1 and #2 news/talk radio programs, NPR has been connecting with listeners for nearly 50 years — and creating an environment where brands who sponsor NPR can do the same.

NPR is more than a media source — it’s a part of people’s lives. It informs listeners’ understanding of the world and shapes their daily routines. From drive-time radio listening, to smart speaker flash briefings, to an afternoon podcast break, listeners choose how to make NPR part of their day. The result is a variety of personal listening experiences, with a common thread of connection and attention.

With a monthly audience of 132M people, NPR stands apart from advertising platforms, reaching the hard to reach. 85% of NPR’s weekly radio listeners — 23.8M people — do not listen to commercial news/talk stations in a typical week.⁴ They tend to be light TV viewers, and are more likely to seek out ad-free subscription services. NPR’s curious, loyal audience trusts NPR as a source of information they don’t get elsewhere – 89% say that NPR provides them with information other media outlets don’t provide.⁵ That trust extends to NPR sponsors: 69% of listeners prefer to do business with brands that support NPR.⁶ 

The more platforms, the greater the impact.

Because listeners engage with NPR in different ways, sponsors can have the greatest impact by extending their message across NPR platforms. For instance, 12.7M weekly NPR radio listeners are not listening to NPR podcasts — an audience that NPR podcast-only sponsors miss.⁷ The most effective campaigns take into account the many ways listeners are personalizing their NPR experience.

Interested in elevating your audio campaign by extending it across platforms?

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Sources: (1) Kantar/Lightspeed Research; (2) 2018 Public Radio Tech Survey; (3) Veritonic, NPM Radio Study, February 2020, among public radio listeners; (4) ACT 1 based on Nielsen Audio Nationwide, Fall 2019, Persons 12+; (5) NPR Impact Study, July 2019; (6) NPR Podcast Listener Survey, April 2019; (7) A25-64. Kantar/Lightspeed Research, NPR Sponsorship Survey, February 2020 applied to audience estimates from ACT 1 based on Nielsen Audio Nationwide, Fall 2019, Persons 25-64; (8) NPR Digital Impact Study, recall among users exposed to sponsor’s message on 4 platforms vs. a single NPR platform; (9) Lightspeed/Kantar, Q2 2020; (10) NPR Audience Survey, Q3 2019