Classic Hits Format Becomes The Summer Spoiler

In what Nielsen calls a ratings upset, Classic Hits pushed CHR and Country aside in August  to finish the summer as radio’s most improved format.

New analysis from Nielsen shows the average 6+ share for classic hits in PPM markets jumped 10% in the summer months when compared to its average performance from January-May.

During June and July, Country and Pop Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR) both made a play to land the coveted title of “format of the summer,” as Country popped in June, cooled in July, and was then overtaken by a spike in Top40 listening. In August, however, neither format could keep their momentum going, giving way to a dark horse that pulled in solid audience share throughout the summer. Compared with Country and CHR, Classic Hits has quietly and consistently grown its audience during the past three months and finished the summer of 2014 with the largest percentage increase in listening shares of any major format during the summer.

In order to judge this race, Nielsen compared listening trends for the major radio formats during June, July and August with the average results from the first five months of the year, January through May. Based on the average quarter hour (AQH) share changes for the full-week (Monday-Sunday 6 a.m.-midnight) daypart over the past four years, the last three summertime “winners” have been Hot Adult Contemporary (AC), Pop CHR and Country, respectively.

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This year, Classic Hits led the way, followed by Hot AC, Classic Rock and Country.

According to Nielsen, August’s results for the Classic Hits format were historic in several ways: the format set a new all-time high for both 6-plus (5.6%) and 18-34 (3.8%) listener shares, and the 25-54 results (4.9%) were the highest since the spring of 2012.

Persons 6+	Summer 2011 Share Increase (%)	Summer 2012 Share Increase (%)	Summer 2013 Share Increase (%)	Summer 2014 Share Increase (%)
Adult Contemporary (AC)	-3.3	-3.6	-5.3	-4.1
Album Adult Alternative	-11.9	-1.6	4.0	-8.3
Album Oriented Rock	-4.4	3.8	8.4	Flat
All News	-7.6	-2.0	-9.3	-14.3
All Sports	-2.7	-5.3	-0.8	-2.4
Alternative	-8.2	7.5	7.6	Flat
Classic Hits	4.1	0.9	2.2	10
Classic Rock	6.0	3.2	5.9	6.5
Country	6.2	3.9	8.8	6.3
Hot Adult Contemporary (AC)	26.3	3.6	5.3	6.7
Mexican Regional	-3.5	-3.5	-5.2	2.7
News/Talk	-5.1	-5.5	-7.8	-6.7
Pop Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR)	3.2	8.5	1.9	1.2
Rhythmic Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR)	-1.3	6.9	-1.9	-8.1
Spanish Contemporary+Spanish Hot AC	-1.5	-7.2	-4.9	4.0
Urban Adult Contemporary (AC)	2.0	-1.4	-0.8	2.0
Urban Contemporary	2.0	1.1	1.9	Flat
PPM—Portable people meter. CHR—Contemporary Hit Radio. AC—Adult Contemporary. Source: Nielsen