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January 2024: Top Five Reasons Teaching & Hybrid Listeners Listen

Top Five Reasons Hybrid and Teaching Listeners Listen 

The Finney Media Why Listen® Survey has uncovered listener perceptions of Christian radio stations nationwide for almost ten years. In our latest survey, almost 15,000 listeners to Christian radio responded. Today, we unpack responses from the past three Why Listen surveys to see the Main Reasons listeners say their listening has changed. 

Here’s how we asked the question:  

“There may be several reasons why you listen to Christian radio. For each of the reasons below, please indicate whether for you it is a Main Reason, Secondary Reason or Not A Reason At All to listen.  

We presented our respondents with about 20 different reasons they might listen. 

Here are the Top Five Reasons from the past three surveys, ranked by percentage who indicated Main Reason:

Hybrid (Music & Teaching)

Reason 2018 2021 2023
1. It helps you grow spiritually 86% 85% 85%
2. It helps you worship God throughout the day 83% 86% 84%
3. You want to be encouraged 70% 76% 73%
4. You like worshipful Christian music 63% 80% 71%
5. It helps you understand the Bible better 74% 68% 71%

Teaching

Reason 2018 2021 2023
1. It helps you grow spiritually 89% 87% 92%
2. It helps you understand the Bible better 80% 79% 85%
3. It helps you worship God throughout the day 81% 81% 81%
4. You want to hear sermons 58% 65% 77%
5. You want to be encouraged 67% 70% 71%

It’s helpful to see how listeners don’t identify Worship with just music. “It helps you worship God throughout the day” is one of the top Main Reasons for Teaching stations that play no songs. 

Look at how strongly “grow spiritually” is a Top Reason in both formats, especially in Teaching, now more than 90 percent saying that’s a Main Reason they listen. 

News? Not of high interest or expectation among these listeners. It’s now under 25 percent saying it’s a Main Reason they listen for both formats. 

as seen in the 2023 Finney Media Why Listen® Survey

The 2023 Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey included almost 15,000 respondents from three different formats: Music/Teaching (Hybrid) stations, All-Teaching stations and Programs, and all-Music stations (CCM).

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 survey, we asked about denominational affiliation. Among respondents from Hybrid and Teaching stations, here are the Top Five Denominations:

Top Five Denominations (Hybrid Listeners)

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

Top Five Denominations (Teaching Listeners)

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

The first two denominations on both rankers comprise about 2/3rd of all the respondents. The other 1/3rd are led by Pentecostals.  We can see that many denominations have 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 pre-set yet, we’ll need to focus on using words and concepts that many or most understand.

A story to help illustrate: Recently a friend from our Bible Study group pulled me aside after class. She grew up Catholic and is now Baptist. She leads a Bible Study Fellowship class. She reads her Bible and pays attention. She was curious about a word that had come up in our group that morning that she didn’t know the meaning of, “liturgy.” I know. I was surprised too. She grew up Catholic but didn’t know the meaning.

But I shouldn’t be surprised, because we do research with believers who listen to Christian radio. Many don’t know the meaning of a lot of words/phrases/concepts, even things you would expect that they know.

 

The 2023 Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey consists of almost 15,000 respondents and 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 gave 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 Hybrid (Teaching and Music) and all-Teaching listeners are below. These are the percentage who said that the 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 are “Feeling called by God to give” and “I believe in the mission and vision of the ministry”. It is so crucial 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.

And finally, help your team understand your why and be able to articulate it quickly and clearly.

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 crucial, get ready to tackle how to talk to all five in ways all of those listeners can understand.

In 2023’s Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey, there were almost 15,000 respondents from three different formats – Music/Teaching (Hybrid) stations, all-Teaching stations & programs, and CCM stations.  

The centerpiece of the survey is the reasons Christian radio listeners listen. It turns out that listeners who came to Music/Teaching (Hybrid) stations and all-Teaching stations and programs listen for reasons similar to CCM station listeners. But there are a few reasons that are different. Here are the percentages, by format, of respondents who said that’s a Main Reason they listen. 

Music/Teaching (Hybrid) Station Respondents 

1. It helps you grow spiritually 85%
2. It helps you worship God throughout the day 84%
3. You want to be encouraged 73%
4. You like worshipful Christian music 71%
5. It helps you understand the Bible better 71%

All-Teaching Station Respondents 

1. It helps you grow spiritually 92%
2. It helps you understand the Bible better 85%
3. It helps you worship God throughout the day 81%
4. You want to hear sermons 77%
5. You want to be encouraged 71%

CCM Station Respondents 

1. You like worshipful Christian music 93%
2. It helps you worship God throughout the day 91%
3. You want to be encouraged 82%
4. It helps you grow spiritually 76%
5. It’s safe for you and your family to listen to 67%

The answers in bold are the ones not common to all three formats. The ones not in bold made the Top Five Main Reasons for each of the formats. A few observations: 

  • It makes sense that “I like the worshipful Christian music” would not show up as a top Main Reason for Teaching Station/Program respondents since those stations don’t play any music. 
  • A more Bible-focused and evangelism reason shows up higher for the stations that lean toward Teaching programs. “It helps you understand the Bible better” shows up much more strongly than that reason did with music listeners. 
  • We believe that the biggest headlines are: When you look at the Main Reasons that are common to all three formats “It helps me worship God throughout the day”, “It helps me grow spiritually” and “I want to be encouraged” for our Hybrid and Teaching station and program listener, it’s Spiritual Growth. For the all-Music listener, it’s Spiritual Encouragement.

Coming in December: The Top Five Reasons Christian Radio Listeners Give. 

The 2023 Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey included almost 15,000 respondents andover a million data points from three different formats: Music stations, Music/Teaching stations, and All-Teaching stations/programs.

There’s much discussion about focusing our radio stations on people beyond the nuclear  family; a husband/wife both married for the first time with natural born children. In 2023, there are more people listening than just men and women who are married for the first time. Here are the Top Five Marital Statuses for Hybrid (Music + Teaching) and all-Teaching listeners ranked in our recent nationwide survey:

Hybrid

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

Teaching

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 she is married for the first time, you’re talking to half of your listeners. And if you assume she is married  for the first time or more often you’re still talking to under 7 in 10. Almost one-third of Hybrid listeners and almost 40 percent of Teaching listeners are not currently married.

We’re coming up on the holidays and for many of your listeners, that means blended families sharing time (30 to 35 percent are either re-married or divorced) or some form of spending it alone (about 20 percent are either never married or widowed). It’s time to be empathetic to how complicated it is.

The 2023 Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey. There were 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, heard by people from many denominations. In our nationwide Finney Media Why Listen® Survey, we asked about this affiliation. Among respondents from Hybrid (Music & Teaching) 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%

Teaching

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

The first two denominations in both formats total over 60 percent. The other 40 percent are other faith traditions. All these many denominations have different ways of worship and different words they use in their worship and way of communication.

For us to reach them and others who haven’t even given us a pre-set yet, we’ll need to focus on using words and concepts that most understand.

A story to help illustrate

Heard this on the radio from a prominent Christian broadcaster – “we need to exhort fellow believers.” I asked friends from a CCM station to tell me the meaning of the word exhort. One thought it meant to exercise. A friend pointed out that that is to exert. Another thought that exhort is what you do when you know something damaging about someone and you expect payment to keep it quiet – to extort. These were smart broadcasters focused on a Biblical mission, but they didn’t know that exhort means to “strongly encourage or urge”. And if the national broadcaster had said “urge” instead of “exhort”, he would have been clearer.

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 October: The Top Five Marital Statuses represented among Hybrid and Teaching respondents in the 2023 Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey. You already know not all are married. We’ll break down how different the respondents are in relation to marriage/life situations.

The 2023 Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey is complete. Almost 15,000 respondents from three different formats – Music stations, Music and Teaching stations, and all-Teaching stations and programs participated and provided fascinating information about our listeners. 

One of our big questions is about tune outs – things your listener perceives you might do that would cause her to tune away or 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 I’m 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 I’m not interested in 56%
3. They play songs you don’t like 56%
4. An announcer talks too much 45%
5. They play commercials 42%

Over the last couple of months, we discussed in this column (links here) how the main listener’s reasons for listening to Hybrid and Teaching Christian radio are summed up in two words – spiritual growth. Our top tune out confirms this. The no. 1 tune out – 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 have a negative, angry, judgmental tone, but also that we’re proactive about including “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control*.” 

The others 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 September: Top Five Denominations among Teaching & Hybrid Listeners.  

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

 

Gender and Age Breakdown

The 2023 Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey is out! Almost 15,000 respondents from three different formats, including Music stations, Music and Teaching stations and Teaching stations and programs. The findings are enlightening.

In the survey, we presented respondents with almost twenty different reasons they might listen to their Christian radio station or program. Here are the Top Five Main Reasons broken out by age: Under 55s (Younger) and Over 55s (Older) and by gender for Hybrid and Teaching Station/Program respondents. The numbers are the percentage of respondents who indicated that’s a Main Reason they listen:

Top Five Main Reasons (Hybrid)

 Women under 55 Women 55+ Men under 55 Men 55+
1. It helps you grow spiritually 89% 89% 85% 83%
2. It helps you worship God throughout the day  87% 86% 81% 76%
3. It helps you understand the Bible better 72% 77% 77% 73%
4. You want to be encouraged 76% 76% 66% 64%
5. You like worshipful Christian music 66% 64% 52% 52%

Top Five Main Reasons (Teaching)

 Women under 55 Women 55+ Men under 55 Men 55+
1. It helps you grow spiritually 91% 93% 81% 88%
2. It helps you worship God throughout the day  80% 85% 84% 81%
3. It helps you understand the Bible better 84% 88% 83% 76%
4. You want to be encouraged 77% 69% 81% 72%
5. You like worshipful Christian music 79% 76% 64% 64%

Please note: Almost all age/gender respondents agreed on the bolded Main Reasons over 80 percent.

Two headlines:

  1. The differences between Younger and Older are negligible. The biggest differences are between Women and Men – the scores for Women are generally higher.
  2. Secondly, your listener is coming to you for Spiritual Growth. The more you deliver on this and less on other things, the deeper your ministry impact. This includes Worship for Teaching Stations and Programs.

Coming next month: From the 2023 Why Listen? Survey, we focus on the reasons respondents tune away or turn off. Do less of these things and grow your ministry impact.

The 2023 Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey is out! Almost 15,000 respondents from three different formats – Music and Teaching (Hybrid) stations, Teaching stations and programs and All-Music stations. The findings are fascinating.

This month, we begin a series of presentations of the findings from the large nationwide survey, specifically designed for Hybrid and Teaching broadcasters.

In the survey, we presented respondents about twenty different reasons they might listen to their Christian radio station. Here are the Top Five Main Reasons for Hybrid Station respondents. The numbers are the percentage of respondents who indicated that’s a Main Reason they listen:

Top Five Main Reasons to Listen (Hybrid)

1. It helps you grow spiritually 85%
2. It helps you worship God throughout the day 84%
3. You want to be encouraged 73%
4. You like worshipful Christian music 71%
5. It helps you understand the Bible better 71%

Now check out the Top Five Main Reasons for All-Teaching Station and Program respondents. Again, the numbers are the percentage of respondents who indicated that’s a Main Reason they listen:

Top Five Main Reasons to Listen (Teaching)

1. It helps you grow spiritually 92%
2. It helps you understand the Bible better 85%
3. It helps you worship God throughout the day 81%
4. You want to hear sermons 77%
5. You want to be encouraged 71%

Please note the Main Reasons in bold, the ones over 80 percent of our respondents agreed on.

We believe there are at least two headlines to zero in on. First, your listener is coming to you for Spiritual Growth. The more you deliver on this and less on other things, the more she will keep coming to you.

Secondly, listeners want help from you with worshipping God . . . and they don’t necessarily identify worship with songs. It’s the #3 reason they come to Teaching Stations and Programs, who generally don’t play songs.

Coming next month: From the 2023 Why Listen? Survey, we re-examine the Main Reasons, focusing on the differences between Women and Men, Younger and Older.

If you get to know your listener, and you gear your program, station or podcast more toward your listener, you’ll have more listeners. 

Said a different way, those of us who think about our program, station or podcast all day are not good at judging what our listeners want, unless we better understand who’s listening, where they’re listening, and what’s on their mind and heart when they’re listening. This means we must take our personal opinion out and listen to them. 

How do we know this? We’ve asked. In research. And we’ve observed what results in more listeners. After programming stations, programs and podcasts for over 40 years, and observing what the highest performing entities do, I’m more convinced than ever that listening to your listeners and acting on that information really is the secret sauce. 

The following “Four A’s” are how we recommend you think about this: 

  1. Attitude. Listening to your listener is an attitude . . . of putting your personal opinion aside and pursuing what your listener thinks, what preferences she has, how and where she listens, and what will cause her to stay or come back more often.  
  2. Ask. The Right Questions of The Right People. True story. I once was the Program Director of an NFL team’s radio flagship station. There was a change in the team’s front office leadership and along with new people, they brought in a new song to play at home games to celebrate the team scoring. Problem – fans loved the old song they had played for years when the team scored! And were very vocal about it. When the team scored in their first home game after the announcement and played the new song, fans booed! The team decided quickly to go back to the original celebration song. When we asked team leadership how this could have happened, they said they’d done research and the new song was more popular. We then asked where they had done the research. They said they’d researched people in a town . . . 500 miles away, where likely no one knew the song or cared about the team. In fact, there’s a rival NFL team in that city! That’s a story of researching the wrong people.  
  3. Acknowledge. That you will be surprised. Often, what we discover from listeners is different from what we expected. We’ve been surprised by Christian radio listeners’ appetite for worship music (it’s huge) and their interest in humor (it’s big) as part of a Christian station or program. And surprised by that same audience’s rejection of chatter about pop culture being a part of a Christian station’s programming recipe. Chances are when you listen to your listeners, you too will be surprised!
  4. Act. On the information. It doesn’t count if it’s not coming out of the earbuds. Listen to your listeners, then focus on how you’re going to make the sound they want happen. 

I presented these ideas at the NRB Convention in Nashville. Visit our CONFERENCE RESOURCE page for a copy of the PowerPoint from that presentation.  Contact us for further conversation on this key area. 

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