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February 2026: How Are Hybrid and Teaching Listeners Different in Why They Listen in the 2025 Finney Media Why Listen® Survey

The heart of the Finney Media Why Listen® Survey is understanding listeners’ reasons for tuning in. While Top Reasons are often similar by formats, they’re not exactly the same. Today we’ll take a closer look at how Hybrid and Teaching listeners differ, and how that might affect the way you program your station or program.

Hybrid

Reason Percentage
1. It Helps You Worship God Throughout the Day 88%
2. You Like Worshipful Christian Music 87%
3. It Helps You Grow Spiritually 82%
4. You Want to Be Encouraged 77%
5. You Want to Help Spread Truth 62%

Teaching

Reason Percentage
1. It Helps You Grow Spiritually 91%
2. It Helps You Understand the Bible Better 84%
3. It Helps You Worship God Throughout the Day 83%
4. You Want to Hear Sermons 77%
5. You Want To Be Encouraged 71%

The 2025 Finney Media Why Listen® Survey includes almost 12,000 Christian radio listeners nationwide—2,953 from Teaching and Music (Hybrid) Stations and 3,087 from Teaching Stations and Programs.

Hybrid and Teaching listeners give similar reasons for listening. “Helps you worship God”, “Grow spiritually,” “To be encouraged” are common to the two formats. As we look at the differences in rank, however, we notice two things:

  1. Hybrid listeners are more heart first, head second (Worship at no. 1 and no. 2). Teaching listeners are more head first, heart second (Understand the Bible, Hear sermons).
  2. Hybrid listeners want it simpler. Teaching listeners want more in depth.

As you piece together your programming, lean more into heart or head depending on which one you are. Lean more into simple, concise, snack-sized or more in-depth depending on which one you are.

Coming in March: We compare and analyze the Top Main Reasons for Leaving. Why do listeners tune out or turn off? How are Hybrid and Teaching listeners different?

 

This article has been updated from the original. Updated data from 2017 now shows Jeremy Camp/Word of Life the fifth best recently testing song. Additional commentary has been added to provide clarity and further guidance on worship songs and how they are testing on CCM stations.

Finney Media does music research every year on hundreds of songs in multiple markets across North America and every year the numbers on which songs from the past are the most popular with Christian Music Radio listeners changes. From our research during the past year, here are the Top Five Testing Songs released during each of the last 10 years:

2025

  1. Passion/The Lord Will Provide
  2. Phil Wickham/What An Awesome God
  3. Jon Reddick/No Fear
  4. Elevation Worship/I Know A Name f/Brandon Lake
  5. STILL/Crowder
 2024

  1. Megan Woods/The Truth
  2. Seph Schlueter/Counting My Blessings
  3. Elevation Worship/Goodbye Yesterday
  4. Brandon Lake/Hard Fought Hallelujah
  5. Josh Baldwin/Made For More
2023

  1. Jon Reddick/I Believe It
  2. Chris Tomlin/Holy Forever
  3. Ben Fuller/If I Got Jesus
  4. Elevation Worship/Praise
  5. Elevation Worship/Trust In God
 2022

  1. Maverick City Music & Brandon Lake/Fear Is Not My Future
  2. Lauren Daigle/Thank God I Do
  3. Charity Gayle/I Speak Jesus
  4. Katy Nichole/In Jesus Name (God Of Possible)
  5. Cody Carnes/Ain’t Nobody
2021

  1. Casting Crowns/Scars In Heaven
  2. Zach Williams/Less Like Me
  3. Phil Wickham/House Of The Lord
  4. Chris McClarney/Speak To The Mountains
  5. Lauren Daigle/Hold On To Me
 2020

  1. Brandon Lake/Gratitude
  2. Elevation Worship/Graves Into Gardens
  3. Jordan St. Cyr/Fires
  4. Tasha Layton/Into The Sea
  5. Kari Jobe/The Blessing
2019

  1. Matthew West/The God Who Stays
  2. Jonathan & Melissa Helser/Raise A Hallelujah
  3. Hillsong Worship/King Of Kings
  4. Zach Williams/Rescue Story
  5. Michael W. Smith/Waymaker (ft. Vanessa Campagna)
 2018

  1. Lauren Daigle/You Say
  2. For King & Country/God Only Knows
  3. Hillsong Worship/Who You Say I Am
  4. Lauren Daigle/Rescue
  5. I Am They/Scars
2017

  1. Lauren Daigle/O’Lord 
  2. Micah Tyler/Different
  3. Crowder/All My Hope
  4. Tauren Wells/Known
  5. Jeremy Camp/Word of Life
 2016

  1. Casting Crowns/Oh My Soul
  2. Zach Williams/Old Church Choir
  3. Ryan Stevenson f/Gabe Real/Eye Of The Storm
  4. Mercy Me/Even If
  5. Elevation Worship/O Come To The Altar

These rankings are based on song scores from the past 12 months. We’re noticing not only that worship songs that played on CCM stations are testing better than ever (Tomlin/Holy Forever and Elevation/Graves Into Gardens, for example), but now we’re seeing worship songs that largely didn’t get played on CCM stations also testing. For example, Passion/The Lord Will Provide and MCM & Brandon Lake/Fear Is Not My Future are songs that are sung in church and played on Worship stations. We recommend that at a minimum those titles should be a discussion at your station.

Coming in April: The latest rankings on the most popular artists with CCM listeners across the United States.

Rank/Marital Status % of CCM Respondents
1. Married first time 48%
2. Remarried 19%
3, Divorced 14%
4. Single/Never Married 9%
5. Widowed 9%

The 2025 Finney Media Why Listen® Survey includes almost 12,000 Christian radio listeners nationwide—5,470 of them from Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) stations.

Check out the numbers on marital status. Less than half married the first time. About a third divorced or re-married. Almost one in ten widowed. And almost one in ten never married.

It helps explain why, when we ask about airing Christian marriage advice on the radio we get mixed results. Almost as if the married folks are saying “I could use some of that!” And the non-married folks – about a third – are saying “Not Interested.” It makes planning for Valentine’s Day interesting. It’s not necessarily a happy day.

Coming in March: From our music research over the past year, the Top Five Testing Songs released in each of the past ten years. Are you testing them? Are you playing them?

Hybrid

Rank/Marital Status % of Hybrid Respondents
1. Married first time 46%
2. Remarried 18%
3. Divorced 13%
4. Widowed 12%
5. Single/Never Married 10%

Teaching

Rank/Marital Status % of Teaching Respondents
1. Married first time 44%
2. Remarried 19%
3. Divorced 14%
4. Widowed 12%
5. Single/Never Married 9%

The 2025 Finney Media Why Listen® Survey includes almost 12,000 Christian radio listeners nationwide—2,953 from Teaching and Music (Hybrid) Stations and 3,087 from Teaching Stations and Programs

Check out the numbers on marital status. Less than half married the first time. About a third divorced or re-married. Over one in ten widowed. About one in ten never married.

It helps explain why, when we ask about airing Christian marriage advice on the radio we get mixed results. Almost as if the married folks are saying “I could use some of that!” And the non-married folks – about a third – are saying “Not Interested.” It makes planning for Valentine’s Day interesting. It’s not necessarily a happy day.

Coming in February: We compare and analyze the Top Main Reasons for listening. How are Hybrid and Teaching listeners different in why they listen?

Hybrid

Rank/Denomination % of Hybrid Respondents
1. Baptist 35%
2. Non-denominational/Bible/Community Church 30%
3. Pentecostal 7%
4. Presbyterian 7%
5. Reformed 6%

Teaching

Rank/Denomination % of Teaching Respondents
1. Baptist 45%
2. Non-denominational/Bible/Community Church 33%
3. Pentecostal 7%
4. Methodist 4%
5. Lutheran 4%

The 2025 Finney Media Why Listen®  Survey includes almost 12,000 Christian radio listeners nationwide—almost 3,000 each from Teaching & Music (Hybrid) stations and 3,000 from Teaching stations and programs. And I’ll bet the denominations they identify with don’t surprise you. The top Five are dominated with Evangelical Protestant denominations (both formats show about 80% from Evangelical Protestant respondents).

What might surprise you is how different this top Five is from the actual denominational composition of the United States. According to the PEW RELIGIOUS LANDSCAPE STUDY from 2023-2024, 62 percent of Americans identify as Christian. Of that 62 percent, here are the Top Five Denominations:

Rank/Denomination % of the US Population
1. Evangelical Protestant 37%
2. Catholic 31%
3. Mainline Protestant 18%
4. Historically Black Protestant 8%
5. Latter Day Saint (Mormon) 3%

Geography makes a huge difference in these nationwide population numbers (for example, Christians in Dallas-Fort Worth are 44 percent Evangelical Protestant vs. Chicago’s 17 percent), but it appears that there could be opportunity to help our stations and programs reach beyond the Evangelical Protestant core.

What are the ways, without compromising the bold Biblical message, that we might attract listeners from other Christian denominations to worship God through our stations the other six days of the week?

Coming in January: From the 2025 Why Listen Survey , The Top Five Marital Statuses represented among the respondents. Hint: Not all of your listeners are married!

Rank/Denomination % of CCM Respondents
1. Non-denominational/Bible/Community Church 34%
2. Baptist 25%
3. Lutheran 11%
4. Catholic 10%
5. Pentecostal 7%

The 2025 Finney Media Why Listen® Survey includes almost 12,000 Christian radio listeners nationwide—5,470 of them from Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) stations. And I’ll bet the denominations they identify with don’t surprise you. The top five are dominated with Evangelical Protestant denominations (no. 1, no. 2 and no. 5 total to 66 percent).

What might surprise you is how different this top five is from the actual denominational composition of the United States. According to the PEW RELIGIOUS LANDSCAPE STUDY from 2023-2024, 62 percent of Americans identify as Christian. Of that 62 percent, here are the Top Five Denominations:

Rank/Denomination % of the US Population
1. Evangelical Protestant 37%
2. Catholic 31%
3. Mainline Protestant 18%
4. Historically Black Protestant 8%
5. Latter Day Saint (Mormon) 3%

Geography makes a huge difference in these nationwide population numbers (for example, Christians in Dallas-Fort Worth are 44 percent Evangelical Protestant versus. Chicago’s 17 percent), but it appears that there could be opportunity to help our stations reach beyond the Evangelical Protestant core.

What are the ways, without compromising the bold Biblical message, that we might attract listeners from other Christian denominations to worship God through our stations the other six days of the week?

Coming in January: From the 2025 Why Listen Survey, The Top Five Marital Statuses represented among the respondents. Hint: Not all of your listeners are married!

 

 

Rank/Motivation for Giving

% Very Important
1. (tie) You believe in the mission and vision of the ministry 84%
1. (tie) Feeling called by God to give 84%
3. Knowing God tells us to support those who minister to us 61%
4. A story about someone’s life that was changed through the ministry 36%
5. An emergency need at the ministry 33%

The 2025 Finney Media Why Listen®  Survey, which included almost 12,000 Christian radio listeners nationwide—5,470 of them from Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) stations—reveals clear motivations for respondents’ giving to your radio ministry.

Among those who indicated recent giving, we asked this question: While there are many general reasons for donating to a radio ministry, there are often special circumstances that move you from just thinking about giving to actually making a call, going online, or writing a check to make a gift. Thinking of the last few times you made a gift, how important were each of the following in inspiring your decision to donate?

You can see their answers above. Both of the top two answers are a call to communication clarity. Are you clear (obvious, concise and often) about your mission and vision in ways your listener can relate to? If you were brand new to Christian radio (and the faith), would you understand and be motivated by the words you’re using? This often means listening to listeners about why they give and then incorporating those words into your appeals.

Listener stories (no. 4 on this list above) are an excellent way of communicating the emotions from the top three responses. Do you have ways of capturing those stories, editing them to a snack-sized length and airing/re-airing them?

Coming in January: From the 2025 Why Listen Survey, The Top Five Denominations represented among the respondents.Get ready to hear about an opportunity to grow your audience.

 

Hybrid

Rank/Motivation for Giving % Very Important
  1. You believe in the mission and vision of the ministry
 85%
2. Feeling called by God to give 84%
3. Knowing God tells us to support those who minister to us 67%
4. An emergency need at the ministry 36%
5. A story about someone’s life that was changed through the ministry 32%

Teaching

Rank/Motivation for Giving % Very Important
1. You believe in the mission and vision of the ministry 85%
2. Feeling called by God to give 83%
3. Knowing God tells us to support those who minister to us 63%
4. A story about someone’s life that was changed through the ministry 27%
5. An emergency need at the ministry 27%

The 2025 Finney Media Why Listen® Survey, which included almost 12,000 Christian radio listeners nationwide—almost 3,000 from Music and Teaching (Hybrid stations) and over 3,000 from all-Teaching stations and programs—reveals clear motivations for respondents’ giving to your radio ministry.

Among those who indicated recent giving, we asked this question: While there are many general reasons for donating to a radio ministry, there are often special circumstances that move you from just thinking about giving to actually making a call, going online, or writing a check to make a gift. Thinking of the last few times you made a gift, how important were each of the following in inspiring your decision to donate?

You can see their answers above. Both of the top two answers are a call to communication clarity. Are you clear (obvious, concise and often) about your mission and vision in ways your listener can relate to? If you were a brand new to Christian radio (and the faith), would you understand and be motivated by the words you’re using? This often means listening to listeners about why they give and then incorporating those words into your appeals.

Listener stories (no.4 or no.5 on the lists above) are an excellent way of communicating the emotions from the top three responses. Do you have ways of capturing those stories, editing them to a snack-sized length and airing/re-airing them?

Coming in January: From the 2025 Why Listen Survey 2025, The Top Five Denominations represented among Hybrid and Teaching the respondents. Get ready to hear about an opportunity to grow your audience.

On-Air Topic

% Very Interested
1. A word from Scripture and how it might apply to your life today 81%
2. Information on a local Christian concert 53%
3. Bible studies on topics such as prophecy, spiritual gifts, and marriage 37%
4. Ideas for free, fun activities with your family next weekend 36%
5. Weather forecasts 33%

The 2025 Finney Media Why Listen® Survey reveals clear priorities among CCM audiences regarding on-air content. The survey conducted earlier this year included almost 12,000 Christian radio listeners nationwide, of whom 5,470 were from Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) stations.

Leading by a wide margin, A word from Scripture and how it might apply to your life today (81%) demonstrates that spiritual encouragement is the heart of CCM radio. Listeners are not simply tuning in for music but for messages that connect biblical truth to daily living, affirming your role as a spiritual companion.

At 53 percent, information on a local Christian concert ranks second, highlighting the importance of community connection and shared worship experiences. CCM listeners value opportunities to gather in faith-centered environments where the music they love is brought to life.

The third topic, Bible studies on subjects such as prophecy, spiritual gifts, and marriage (37%), indicates interest in deeper biblical engagement and ongoing discipleship. Meanwhile, ideas for free, fun family activities (36%) reveal that listeners also seek practical, family-oriented inspiration rooted in Christian values.

Finally, weather forecasts (33%) round out the top five—an indicator that listeners trust you for both faith and everyday reliability. Overall, these findings illustrate that CCM radio functions as more than entertainment: it is a daily blend of Scripture, community, learning, and life guidance grounded in faith.

Coming in December: From the 2025 Why Listen Survey, The Top Five Motivations for Giving to your ministry, directly from your donors.

Hybrid

On-Air Topic

% Very Interested
1. A word from Scripture and how it might apply to your life today 87%
2. Bible studies on topics such as prophecy, spiritual gifts, and marriage 58%
3. A series on an entire book of the Bible 58%
4. Three ways to improve your marriage or other relationships 35%
5. Information on a local Christian concert 26%

Teaching

On-Air Topic

% Very Interested
1. A word from Scripture and how it might apply to your life today 89%
2. Bible studies on topics such as prophecy, spiritual gifts, and marriage 76%
3. A series on an entire book of the Bible 73%
4. Three ways to improve your marriage or other relationships 40%
5. Regular news updates 33%

The 2025 Finney Media Why Listen® 2025 Survey reveals clear priorities among Hybrid and Teaching audiences regarding on-air content. The survey conducted earlier this year included almost 12,000 Christian radio listeners nationwide, of whom almost 3,000 were Music & Teaching (Hybrid) stations and over 3,000 were Teaching stations and programs.

Leading by a wide margin, A word from Scripture and how it might apply to your life today demonstrates that spiritual growth is the heart of Hybrid and Teaching radio. Listeners are tuning in for messages that connect biblical truth to daily living, affirming your role as a spiritual companion.

At no. 2 for each format, Bible Study echoes what we heard at no. 1. We see the same things with the no. 3 topic, studying an entire book of the Bible.

We have to go all the way to topic no. 4 to find ways to improve your marriage and topic no. 5, either Christian concerts or news as the first topics aren’t specifically about the Bible.

Almost like your listeners are saying, “Please give me more Jesus, more Bible,” and reduce everything else.

Coming in December: From the 2025 Why Listen Survey, The Top Five Motivations for Giving to your ministry, directly from your donors.

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@FINNEY MEDIA 2025

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