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December 2024: Top Five Denominations among Teaching and Hybrid Listeners

“. . . 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.

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.

We surveyed nationwide for a snapshot on Christian radio listeners. The Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey is almost 15,000 respondents with over a million data points  from three different formats: Music stations, Music/Teaching (Hybrid) stations, and All-Teaching stations/programs.

There’s much discussion about focusing our radio stations and ministries on people beyond the nuclear family. In our most recent survey, there are more folks listening than just men and women who are married for the first time.

Here are the Top Five Marital Statuses for Hybrid and Teaching listeners ranked in our nationwide survey:

Hybrid Stations

1. Married First Time 50%
2. Re-married 18%
3. Divorced 13%
4. Single/Never Married 10%
5. Widowed 9%

Teaching Stations

1. Married First Time 42%
2. Re-married 20%
3. Divorced 15%
4. Widowed 13%
5. Single/Never Married 9%

 

Here’s a way to think about this: If you’re talking to your listener as if he or she is married for the first time, you’re talking to half of your listeners. And if you assume he or she is married – for the first time or more often – you’re still only talking to two-thirds or so. One third of the listeners in the Finney Media Why Listen® Survey are not currently married.

We’re coming up on the holidays and for many of our listeners that means blended family craziness (over 30% are either re-married or divorced) or some form of alone (about 20% are either never married or widowed). It’s time to be empathetic to how complicated it is and tailor breaks, transitions and the like accordingly.

Coming in December: The Top Five Reasons Listeners Give to your Radio Station or Program

The Finney Media 2023 Why Listen?® Survey surveyed almost 15,000 respondents from three different formats:  Music stations, Music and Teaching stations, and all-Teaching stations and programs. It uncovered  enlightening information on our listeners!

One of our big questions is about tuneouts: things your listener perceives you might do that would cause her to turn off the radio. The list below is focused on the respondents who came from Hybrid and Teaching stations. The percentages are the total of “very likely to turn off” and “somewhat likely to turn off”:

Hybrid Stations

1. They have a negative, angry, judgmental tone 75%
2. They talk about a topic you’re not interested in 52%
3. They play songs you don’t like 48%
4. An announcer talks too much 42%
5. They play commercials 41%

 

Teaching Stations

1. They have a negative, angry, judgmental tone 70%
2. They talk about a topic you’re not interested in 56%
3. They play songs you don’t like 58%
4. An announcer talks too much 45%
5. They play commercials 42%

 

We discussed in this column the last couple months (see the link below) how the main listener reasons for listening to Hybrid and Teaching Christian radio could be summed up in two words:spiritual growth. Our top tuneout confirms this. The no. 1 tuneout – and it isn’t even close – is a negative, angry, judgmental tone.

Your listener is looking for spiritual growth without negativity, without anger, without judgment.

We believe that doesn’t just mean we take out things that are negative, angry, judgmental, but also that we’re proactive about including “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control*.”

The other tuneouts are important but none quite as important as your station or program being the loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, self-controlled channel in an otherwise negative, angry, judgmental world.

Coming in October:  The Top Five Marital Statuses for Christian radio listeners. Sneak peek: A significant portion are not currently married. Taking that into account as you craft your sound is crucial to growing your audience.

*”The Fruits Of The Spirit” – Galatians 5:22

May 2024: Main Reason Teaching and Hybrid Listeners Listen link

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

We asked listeners about their use of stations and programs social media. Here’s how we asked the question: Which of the social media sites for the ministry that sent you this survey do you follow?

They could choose from the following:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter/X
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube
  • None of these

Here are the results (percentage of respondents by format):

Hybrid Stations

1. None of these 65%
2. Facebook 28%
3. YouTube 11%
4. Instagram 7%
5. Twitter/X 2%
6. Pinterest 1%

All-Teaching Stations and Programs

1. None of these 67%
2. Facebook 23%
3. YouTube 17%
4. Instagram 5%
5. Twitter/X 3%
6. Pinterest 1%

Headlines

  1. “None of these” was selected by about two-thirds of respondents. There is room to grow your online relationship with your listener!
  2. Prioritize! Facebook first. YouTube second. Depending on your capacity, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest may not be worth your focus.
  3. Remember that you’re a radio station or program first. We observe radio friends so focused on their social media efforts that their main product – what’s coming out of the speakers – suffers. Make your on-air product the priority.

The 2023 Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey had almost 15,000 respondents – over 1 million data points – from three different formats, including: Music stations, Music/Teaching stations, All-Teaching stations and programs.

We asked about topics you might talk about on your stations and programs and how interested your listener is in those topics. The list below is focused on the 6,000+ respondents who came from Hybrid stations (Music + Teaching) and almost 4,000 respondents from All-Teaching stations and programs. These are the percentages who indicated they are “very interested”:

Hybrid Stations

1. A word from Scripture and how it might apply to your life today 88%
2. Bible studies on topics such as prophecy, spiritual gifts, marriage, etc. 69%
3. A series on an entire book of the Bible 61%
4. Three ways to improve your marriage or other relationships 44%
5. Regular news updates 28%

 

All-Teaching Stations and Programs

1. A word from Scripture and how it might apply to your life today 91%
2. Bible studies on topics such as prophecy, spiritual gifts, marriage, etc. 76%
3. A series on an entire book of the Bible 74%
4. Three ways to improve your marriage or other relationships 40%
5. Regular news updates 33%

 

SPIRITUAL ENCOURAGEMENT AND GROWTH

In whatever form  we ask, our Christian radio listener is attracted to spiritual encouragement and growth. Notice how far ahead “A Word from Scripture and how it might apply to your life today” shows up.

In fact, most of the topics above lean in a spiritual direction.

What topics score lowest?

For Hybrid respondents, second to last is “weather forecasts” at 19 percent “very interested”. Dead last is “the latest news from Hollywood” at two percent “very interested”. Run quickly from this!

For All-Teaching respondents, second to last is “Ideas for free, fun activities with your family next weekend” at 14 percent “very interested.” And, as you might expect, “the latest news from Hollywood” is last at two percent “very interested.” As with Hybrid, we recommend leaving that off your Christian station or program. Your listener doesn’t want it, nor expect it.

Ready for a surprise from the Finney Media Why Listen® Survey?

Teaching listeners are much more likely to have heard a Christian podcast during the past week than listeners to all-music stations. 

Here’s how we asked the question:

In the last week or so, how many times have you listened online to podcasts (online programming available for you to listen anytime) from any Christian radio ministry?

The percentage of respondents who have heard at least one Christian podcast in the past week:

Among listeners to all-music stations   39%
Among listeners to music + teaching stations  57%
Among listeners to all-teaching stations and programs  67%

A couple of points for your consideration and discussion:

  • Right now, teaching listeners appear more interested in, more adept at, and more involved in hearing online Christian audio content.
  • This may provide an area of opportunity for you. Your ministry has expertise in spoken word programming already. Is it time to grow your online presence? Your listener is likely already there!

Our next Webin8, our eight-minute webinar, is happening this month with our podcast expert Rick Hall. He’ll share five tips for growing your podcast audience. It will be available for you and your team June 25th at Noon CT/1 p.m. ET.

And it’s free! SIGN UP to get access today.

“. . . continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”   2 Timothy 3:14-17 ESV

One of the many encouraging findings from the 2023 Finney Media Why Listen®  survey  is the percentage of respondents who were invited by Teaching/Music Stations and All-Teaching Stations/Programs who said a Main Reason they listen is:

It helps you understand the Bible better.

Among Teaching/Music Station respondents – 71%

Among All-Teaching Station/Program respondents – 85%

That’s a double positive:

  • Not only does this finding line up with the mission of these channels – virtually all of them have “reaching people with Biblical Truth” missions.
  • It means that if you do this consistently, you’re likely to have these respondents come back more often – they’re less likely to listen elsewhere and stop listening to your channel.

It’s as if these respondents are telling us:

  • More Bible understanding, fewer commercials and things that sound like commercials.
  • More Bible understanding, less sports.
  • More Bible understanding, less pop culture.
  • More Bible understanding, less hard news.

Listen to your station or program, put yourself in your listener’s busy, hurting, chaotic, noisy environment shoes, and ask yourself if you’re helping her understand the Bible and God enough.

One more minute every hour of Bible understanding and one less minute of something else will help him or her take a step toward God today.

…and why it matters

. . . he who marries . . . does right, but he who does not marry . . . does better. 1 Corinthians 7:38

In the most recent Finney Media Why Listen® Survey, less than half of respondents are married for the first time. Forty-seven percent among respondents to all three radio formats Teaching, Teaching/Talk and All Music.

Among respondents from all-Teaching stations and programs, the percentages of first-time marrieds are even lower: 42 percent with more respondents widowed, divorced or re-married.

Here’s the truth about Christian radio listeners: about half are not currently married for the first time.

How should affect your on air approach?

Be careful that you don’t sound condescending to those who are not married for the first time. If you’re married for the first time it’s easy to slip into that on-air attitude. But, try to put yourself in the shoes of friends who aren’t there.

“My life is challenging. I love it when the announcers help me feel more connected to God. I sure need that.”

We often hear such comments in face-to-face interviews during Listener Advisory Panels*. And we see it in the numbers in the Finney Media Why Listen® Survey.

Among Christian Teaching listeners:

Eighty one percent (81%) say that “help with worshipping God throughout the day” is a Main Reason they listen. It’s among the biggest Main Reasons Christian listeners listen. We ask listeners questions for a living, and the size of these numbers surprises us!

Here’s a challenge. Listen to your station or program and ask.

Are you spending a big part of your time helping our listener worship?

  • By actually worshipping, praising God.
  • By praying on the air.
  • By talking about living a worshipful life and how to do that. (Hint: The world is an instruction manual on worshipping self, not God. You may be the only place she hears otherwise.)
  • By speaking Scripture, especially verses that bring God praise.
  • By helping show your listener what worship is.

We have a friend who has challenged his announcers to be, on the air, worshippers. And not preachers.

We have another friend who has challenged his announcers to make Scripture a part of their live breaks at least hourly. To speak Scripture rather than vaguely talking about Scripture.

We agree with both of them. And this kind of thing will help better accomplish your Biblical mission and make your listeners smile.

How can your station or podcast lean in a more worshipful direction?

Ask us. We can help.

*Listener Advisory Panels are are a lot less expensive than you might think through the power of Zoom video conferencing.

Missed last month’s article?

FEBRUARY 2024

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