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March 2025: A Major Difference between Teaching Listeners and CCM Listeners

Listeners to the different formats of Christian radio – Teaching, Hybrid and CCM – agree on so many things.

In our most recent Finney Media Why Listen® Survey . . .

  • They agree that growing spiritually is a Top Reason to listen.
  • They agree that “help with worshipping God throughout the day” is a Top Reason.
  • They agree that announcers with an angry, negative, judgmental tone is a major tune out.

Here’s an area where they don’t agree:

It helps you understand the Bible better.

  • Eighty- five percent (85%) of Teaching Listeners said that’s a Main Reason they listen.
  • Seventy-one percent (71%) of Hybrid (Teaching + Music) Listeners said that’s a Main Reason.
  • Thirty-one percent (31%) of CCM Listeners said that’s a Main Reason.

If you’re a Teaching or Hybrid station and you’re looking for a point of differentiation from a CCM station, this is a powerful one!

Go deeper into helping your listener understand the Bible.

And tell them you’re committed to helping them with that.

And let them tell other listeners that’s why they listen!

It’s already your mission. The good news is that it’s also why they’re with you!

Every year, Finney Media Research tests library songs from CCM artists with listeners across the United States. Listeners decide this ranking from research we’ve gathered across North America.

We thought it would be fun to see the Top Five Male Artists from our research recently. If you’re playing them, terrific! If you’re not, perhaps it’s time for a discussion about playing them.

Top Five Male CCM Artists

  1. Chris Tomlin
  2. Jeremy Camp
  3. Phil Wickham
  4. Zach Williams
  5. Micah Tyler

We continue to see strong listener scores on worship songs, with Chris Tomlin still  no. 1 by a wide margin, and Phil Wickham is now up to no. 3. To make this list, you must have lots of high-testing songs spanning quite a few years. From Indescribable (which still tests terrific!) to Holy Forever, that’s why you see Chris Tomlin still at no. 1.

See our ranking of the Top Five Female CCM Artists from last month.

Coming in April: The Top Five Groups in nationwide CCM Music Research during the past few months. Be sure you’re playing these artists and grow your listenership.

With the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) Convention happening this month, it’s time for some good news.

The mission of almost every one of the ministry organizations we work with could be summed up like this: To help our listeners take a step toward Jesus today.

They differ in their wording, but this is a summation.

Our jobs would be very difficult if this mission did not align with what Christian listeners want. Imagine if listeners were interested in recipes . . . or sports . . . or politics . . . or Steven King novels, but our mission was communicating the Gospel. Because of why they listen, it would be hard to make a connection with such a mismatch.

The good news is that’s not what Christian listeners want or expect. In fact, they indicate they leave if we dive into those things.

They want Jesus. They want the Gospel. They want Truth.

In our most recent Why Listen Survey:

  • 84% indicate “it helps me grow spiritually” as a main reason they listen.
  • 86% indicate “it helps me worship God throughout the day” as a main reason.
  • 86% are very interested in “a word from Scripture and how it might apply to your life today.”

When we ask about spiritual growth, worship or Scripture, the numbers soar.

When we ask about sports, politics or pop culture on Christian radio, they plummet.

Example: Two percent (2%) indicate “the latest news from Hollywood” as a main reason they listen.

As you head to Dallas/Fort Worth for the NRB Convention soon, take heart. If you’re not coming to Dallas/Fort Worth, still take heart.

Your listener’s passion for Him, His Word, His Kingdom is high! Hallelujah!

Every year, Finney Media Research tests library songs from CCM artists with listeners across the United States.

We thought it would be fun for you to see the Top Five Female Artists from our recent research. If you’re playing them, terrific! If you’re not, perhaps it’s time for a discussion about playing them.

Top Five Female CCM Artists

  1. Lauren Daigle
  2. CeCe Winans
  3. Katy Nichole
  4. Tasha Layton
  5. Francesca Battistelli

On the strength of high scores for Believe For It and her version of Goodness of God, CeCe Winans soars into our Top Five List this year. The real story in the Top Five is the dominance of Lauren Daigle. The way we do our Artist Scoring rewards artists with lots of high testing songs. Lauren’s scores are so much higher than the others that her score total – driven by lots of hit songs with high scores – is double our no. 2.

Coming in April: The Top Five Male Artists in nationwide CCM Music Research during 2025. There are changes this year in the Top Five! Be sure you’re playing these artists and grow your listenership.

 

Today, a coming together of three pieces of research plus one big takeaway:

Research Finding #1 – From our Why Listen Survey: “A Word from Scripture and how it applies to your life today.” Ninety-one percent (91%) of Teaching station/program respondents and 88% of Hybrid station respondents indicate “very interested.” Easily the  no. 1 topic among the many topics we tested.

Research Finding #2 – From Listener Advisory Panels (picture Focus Groups done with P1’s): An overwhelming desire for and awareness of Scripture on air. Our listeners don’t just want you to talk about Scripture. They want the actual words of Scripture on air.

Research Finding #3 – From both the Why Listen Survey and Listener Advisory Panels: Your listener’s tolerance for length is low. If you want them to stay (and come back), you must get to the point. If you’re meandering to the point (a lot of Christian radio does), she will leave. To grow audience, you must edit well.

One Big Takeaway: Scripture plus Concise is genius. This is true for All-music stations, Hybrid stations and Teaching stations. If you include Scripture . . . and get to the point quickly, your listener will more likely stay and come back . . . and tell a friend!

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 past 10 years:

 

2024

  1. Seph Schlueter/Counting My Blessings
  2. Tasha Layton/Never
  3. Leanna Crawford/Still Waters (Psalm 23)
  4. Megan Woods/The Truth
  5. Tasha Layton/Worship Through It
 2023

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

  1. Katy Nichole/God Is In This Story
  2. Casting Crowns/All Because Of Mercy
  3. Ben Fuller/Who I Am
  4. Lauren Daigle/Thank God I Do
  5. Jordan St. Cyr/No Matter What
 2021

  1. Phil Wickham/House Of The Lord
  2. Zach Williams/Less Like Me
  3. Casting Crowns/Scars In Heaven
  4. Cece Winans/Believe For It
  5. Needtobreathe/I Am Yours
2020

  1. Brandon Lake/Gratitude
  2. Elevation Worship/Graves Into Gardens
  3. Jeremy Camp/Keep Me In The Moment
  4. Cain/Rise Up
  5. Phil Wickham/Battle Belongs
 2019

  1. Jonathan & Melissa Helser/Raise A Hallelujah
  2. Zach Williams/Rescue Story
  3. Jenn Johnson/Goodness Of God
  4. Matthew West/The God Who Stays
  5. Big Daddy Weave/Alive
2018

  1. Hillsong Worship/Who You Say I Am
  2. Lauren Daigle/You Say
  3. Cory Asbury/Reckless Love
  4. Sanctus Real/Confidence
  5. For King & Country/God Only Knows
 2017

  1. Tenth Avenue North/Con
  2. Lauren Daigle/O’Lord
  3. Crowder/All My Hope
  4. Tauren Wells/Known
  5. Passion/Glorious Day
2016

  1. Ryan Stevenson/Eye Of The Storm
  2. Mercy Me/Even If
  3. Hillsong/What A Beautiful Name
  4. Casting Crowns/Oh My Soul
  5. Zach Williams/Old Church Choir
 2015

  1. One Sonic Society/Great Are You Lord
  2. Kristian Stanfill/Even So Come
  3. Big Daddy Weave/My Story
  4. Jeremy Camp/Same Power
  5. Bethel Music/No Longer Slaves

Check out which titles are on this list that you may have taken out over the years . . . and consider if they should be a part of your station now.

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

“. . . gospel clarity is the antidote to the rampant confusion.”

Dean Inserra, The Unsaved Christian/Reaching Cultural Christianity with the Gospel

The Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey saw almost 15,000 respondents from three different formats – Music stations, Music/Teaching stations, and All-Teaching stations and programs.

One of the challenges we face and opportunities we have, unlike a church which is focused on one particular denomination, is that our radio stations and programs are multi-denominational. They are heard by people from many denominations. In our nationwide Finney Media Why Listen® Survey, we asked about denomination affiliation. Among respondents from Hybrid (Music & Teaching) stations and all-Teaching stations and programs, here are the Top Five Denominations:

Hybrid

1. Non-denominational/Bible/Community 34%
2. Baptist 30%
3. Pentecostal/Charismatic 8%
4. Reformed 5%
5. Presbyterian 5%

All-Teaching

1. Baptist 46%
2. Non-denominational/Bible/Community 27%
3. Pentecostal/Charismatic 7%
4. Lutheran 4%
5. Methodist 4%

The first two denominations total 60 percent to 70 percent. The other 30 percent to 40 percent are led by Pentecostals and include mainline Protestant. Many denominations with different ways of worship and different words they use in their worship and ways they communicate with each other.

For us to reach them and perhaps many who haven’t even given us a listen yet, in particular among Bible-believing mainline denominations, we’ll need to focus on using words and concepts that many or most understand.

A Word Illustration

Should we share testimonies – stories of how God has worked in people’s lives – on our stations and programs? Most definitely. Do listeners from mainline Protestant churches use the word testimony to describe their God Story? It’s likely they think that “testimony” is what happens in a courtroom. If we want more listeners from Bible-believing mainline churches to listen, using the words “testimony” is a challenge.

If we’re going to be clear in our communication, we’ll need to consider what our multi-denominational listener – people of all nations . . . and denominations – understand. Clarity and understanding of the Truth is at stake.

Coming in January: The Top Five Topics Hybrid and Teaching Listeners want to hear.

“. . . gospel clarity is the antidote to the rampant confusion.”
Dean Inserra, The Unsaved Christian/Reaching Cultural Christianity with the Gospel

The Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey saw almost 15,000 respondents from three different formats: Music stations, Music/Teaching stations, and All-Teaching stations and programs.

One of the challenges we face and opportunities we have, unlike a church which is focused on one particular denomination, is that our radio stations and programs are multi-denominational. They are heard by people from many denominations. In our nationwide Finney Media Why Listen® Survey, we asked about denomination affiliation. Among respondents from CCM stations, here are the Top Five Denominations:

1. Non-denominational/Bible/Community 30%
2. Baptist 30%
3. Lutheran 10%
4. Pentecostal/Charismatic 10%
5. Catholic 7%

The first two denominations total 60 percent. The other 40 percent are led by Lutherans at 10 percent and include Catholics at 7 percent. Many denominations with different ways of worship and different words they use in their worship and ways they communicate with each other.

For us to reach them and perhaps many who haven’t even given us a listen yet, we’ll need to focus on using words and concepts that many or most understand.

A Word Illustration

Should we share testimonies – stories of how God has worked in people’s lives – on our stations and programs? Most definitely. Do listeners from mainline Protestant churches use the word testimony to describe their God Story? It’s likely they think that “testimony” is what happens in a courtroom. If we want more listeners from mainline Protestant churches to listen, using the words “testimony” is a challenge.

If we’re going to be clear in our communication, we’ll need to consider what our multi-denominational listener – people of all nations . . . and denominations – understand. Clarity and understanding of the Truth is at stake.

Coming in February: From our nationwide research conducted in the past six months: The Top Five Testing Songs released in each of the past ten years.

The Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey has almost 15,000 respondents with over a million data points from three different formats: Hybrid (Music/Teaching) stations, All-Teaching stations and programs, and CCM Stations.

We asked our respondents about whether or not they give to the ministry that sent them the survey. And to those who do give, we asked about what moved them to make a call, go online or write a check to make a gift. The Top Five responses from Hybrid (Teaching and Music) and all-Teaching listeners are below. These are the percentage who said that reason is “very important” to their decision . . . an “inspiration” for their move from listening to giving.

Hybrid

1. Feeling called by God to give      83%
2. I believe in the mission and vision of the ministry 83%
3. Knowing God tells us to support those who ministry to us 63%
4. An emergency need at the ministry 33%
5. A story about someone’s life that was changed through the ministry 31%

Teaching

1. Feeling called by God to give 83%
2. I believe in the mission and vision of the ministry 83%
3. Knowing God tells us to support those who ministry to us 67%
4. An emergency need at the ministry 28%
5. A story about someone’s life that was changed through the ministry 27%

 

The no. 1 and no. 2 responses, “Feeling called by God to give” and “I believe in the mission and vision of the ministry” show how crucial it is that you communicate clearly and often your mission and vision. This includes both on air and off air, and especially through listener stories.

Your listener/donor is passionate about listening, passionate about helping. Making sure that theme is at the center of your giving communication is crucial. Help your team understand your why and be able to articulate it quickly.

Coming in December: The Top Five Denominations represented among Hybrid and Teaching respondents to the 2023 Why Listen? Survey. If you believe making your message multi-denominationally accessible is key, get ready to tackle how to talk to all five in ways all of those listeners can understand.

The Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey has almost 15,000 respondents with over a million data points from three different formats: Music stations, Music/Teaching stations, All-Teaching stations, and programs.

We asked our respondents about whether or not they give to the ministry that sent them the survey. And to those who give, we asked about what moved them to make a call, go online or write a check to make a gift. The Top Five responses from CCM listeners are below. These are the percentage who said that reason is “very important” to their decision . . . an “inspiration” for their move from listening to giving.

1. Feeling called by God to give 87%
2. I believe in the mission and vision of the ministry 85%
3. Knowing God tells us to support those who ministry to us 64%
4. An emergency need at the ministry 38%
5. A story about someone’s life that was changed through the ministry 36%

The no. 1 and no. 2 responses, “Feeling called by God to give” and “I believe in the mission and vision of the ministry” show how crucial it is that you communicate clearly and often your mission and vision both on air and off air, and especially through listener stories.

Your listener/donor is passionate about listening, passionate about helping. Making sure that theme is at the center of your giving communication is crucial. Help your team understand your why and be able to articulate it quickly.

Coming in January: The Top Five Denominations Represented among CCM respondents to the Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey. If you believe making your message multi-denominationally accessible is key, get ready to tackle how to talk to all five in ways all of those listeners can understand.

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