NPR Radio Listeners Are More Loyal Than Ever

Last spring, NPR saw its biggest audience of all time: 60M people listening to, reading and watching NPR content each week across platforms.¹ This fall, NPR’s total audience held steady, in large part due to an increase in radio audience. NPR’s broadcasts, whether received on traditional radios or streamed live on devices like smart speakers, reach 26M weekly listeners as of Fall 2020, which is up 13% percent — about 3 million people — from Spring 2020.²

Per analysis by AudiGraphics, the latest data also shows that NPR listeners are relying on NPR news stations more than ever. NPR stations’ audience is now super-saturated with “core listeners,” those who listen to NPR News stations more than any other radio outlet. They not only tune in to NPR more often, they listen for longer periods of time than to other radio: four out of every five hours core listeners spend with radio are with NPR News stations.³

Aside from the pandemic bounce-back in ratings across NPR’s newsmagazines, the most notable growth is with It’s Been a Minute, which is up an astounding +70% year-over-year in both AQH and cume.² This comes after a huge year for the It’s Been a Minute program as a whole, with the podcast up +114% year-over-year in average weekly users.⁴

Millions of people rely on NPR radio each week, and coupled with NPR’s extensive cross-platform reach, your brand has the opportunity to connect with NPR audiences wherever they are.

Interested in learning more about NPR’s broadcast sponsorship opportunities?

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1. Broadcast (Nielsen Nationwide, Fall 2020), NPR.org and NPR app (Google Analytics average 09/13/20 – 11/28/20), podcasts (Splunk average 09/13/20 – 11/28/20) and YouTube (09/13/20 – 11/28/20). Overlap calculated based on comScore data and survey data.
2. ACT 1 based on Nielsen Nationwide, Persons 12+. Based on program broadcast times, Mon-Sun Midnight-Midnight © 2021 The Nielsen Company. May not be quoted or reproduced without the prior written permission of Nielsen.
3. AudiGraphics, March 2021
4. Splunk, April 2021