Survey: 'Trump Bump' Also Helps Non-Com N/Ts

In a study that included 122 News/Talk stations in 44 of the Top 50 markets spotlighting Adults 25-54, Gabe Hobb's presented his 3rd Annual 'Talk Radio Report Card' during last week's Talk Show Boot Camp in Atlanta.

Among the findings showed the formats overall share performance was up for the first time in at least the last five years. The share increased from a 2.4 to a 2.5. Looking at AQH Persons the format increased by 15% (year over year) from 2600 to 3000 AQH Persons. However, that same 3000 AQH Persons was down by 12% from the last election year of 2012.

When looking at the fourth quarter only (Oct-Nov-Dec) TOTAL AQH was up 20% year to year and down 6% from the election period from 2012. From a pure persons listening (AQH) standpoint WAMU-FM in Washington, DC was the 800-Pound gorilla with 15,800 AQH Persons. As far as cume-trending, based on AQH growth and cume growth, news/talk radio, particularly commercial news/talk radio, did a better job at getting their existing listeners to use the station more as opposed to attracting NEW listeners.

The Trump Factor: The overwhelming majority of any “Trump Bump” went to non-commercial radio. The report shows that Non-Commercial news/talk passed AM news/talk in 2012. It passed FM talk in 2016 and leads that format category based on a resurgence during the 2016 presidential election. 43 of those 67 were on FM. Out of those 43 FM stations 31 were non-commercial.

(H/T to The Morning Mouth)