What Turns Off More Listeners Than Commercials?

This summer’s NuVoodoo Research Ratings Prospects Study 22 showed several things more likely to cause tuneouts than commercial breaks. 

Among those who are regular broadcast radio listeners in their sample of 2,504 respondents ages 14-54 nationwide, 38% cited commercial breaks as a reason to tune out. As many said songs being repeated multiple times in a few hours caused tune out. A few more (1%) cited talk about things that don’t interest them as a thing that caused tune-out. 

But the worst offender, at 45% of the radio listeners in the sample, was too many bad songs. Burned out songs caused tune-out for 36%. Horizontal repetition, songs repeated at the same time from one day to another, caused tune-out for 34%. The same vibe, songs that all sound the same, was a problem for 33%.

Just over a fifth of the research-friendly respondents in NuVoodoo sample model as being likely to empanel with Nielsen if offered into a meter or diary sample. They’re labeled “RPS Yes” in the tables below and deserve our attention, since they’re the people who give stations their report cards. You might expect them to be less likely to find reasons to tune out, but actually they’re more likely to find reasons to tune out.

At 58%, it’s nearly 3 in 5 “RPS Yes” ratings likelies who cited too many bad songs as a reason they’ve tuned out – eight points worse than commercial breaks. For music radio, getting everything just right is so incredibly important. It’s hard enough to get a playlist right for one person, but radio does it for thousands of people.