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November 2021: Top Five Reasons Teaching & Hybrid Listeners Give

The 2021 Finney Media Why Listen?®  Survey talked to almost 11,000 respondents with over a million data points from three different formats including: Music/Teaching (Hybrid) stations, All-Teaching stations and programs, and CCM stations.

We asked listeners about whether or not they gave to the ministry that sent them the survey. And to those who gave, 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 station and Teaching station/program listeners are below. These are the percentage who said that reason is “very important” to their decision . . . a “trigger” for their move from listening to giving:

HYBRID

1. Feeling called by God to give 84%
2. I believe in the mission and vision of the ministry 83%
3. Knowing God tells us to support those who minister to us 67%
4. An emergency need at the ministry 37%
5. A story about someone’s life that was changed through the ministry 31%

TEACHING

1. I believe in the mission and vision of the ministry 88%
2. Feeling called by God to give 88%
3. Knowing God tells us to support those who minister to us 74%
4. An emergency need at the ministry 37%
5. A story about someone’s life that was changed through the ministry 26%

The no. 1 and no. 2 responses – “Feeling called by God to give” and “I believe in the mission and vision of the ministry”– are crucial. We recommend that you communicate clearly and often, your mission and vision. Both on-air and off-air. Your listener/donor is passionate about listening and passionate about helping. Help your team understand your why—your mission and vision–and be able to articulate it quickly.

Coming in January:  The Top Five Denominations represented among Hybrid and Teaching respondents in the 2021 Why Listen? Survey. If you believe making your message multi-denominationally and accessible is crucial, get ready to tackle how to talk to all five in ways all of those listeners can understand.

The Finney Media 2021 Why Listen?® Survey is out! Almost 11,000 respondents. Over one million data points. And, from three different formats: All-Teaching Stations & Programs, Music/Teaching (Hybrid) Stations, and CCM Stations.  

We asked about topics you might talk about on your stations and how interested your listener is in those topics. The two lists below are focused on the respondents who came from all-Teaching stations/programs and Hybrid stations. These are the percentages who indicated they are “very interested”. 

Teaching/Spoken Word

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 70%
4t. Regular news updates. 41%
4t. A prayer of thanksgiving from a local pastor. 41%

Hybrid

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. 70%
3. A series on an entire book of the Bible. 63%
4. A prayer of thanksgiving from a local pastor. 45%
5. Stories about how people helped a neighbor after a tragedy. 43%

SPIRITUAL GROWTH!  

In whatever form or forum we ask, our Teaching and Hybrid Christian radio listener is attracted to spiritual growth. Check out how far ahead of every other answer “A Word from Scripture and how it might apply to your life today” shows up. And then there are the Bible study topics! 

In fact, the topics above lean in a spiritual direction, including the idea of prayer on the radio. 

What topics scored lowest? 

Dead last, run quickly away from this, is “the latest news from Hollywood” at two percent “very interested”.    

Coming in December:  The Top Five Reasons Christian Radio Listeners Give to Your Station or Program. The Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey includes a lot of donors, so we’re asking the folks who support you now. 

Want more Why Listen Research? Visit our RESOURCES page.

With our 2021 Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey, we reached almost 11,000 respondents from three different formats: Music and Teaching (Hybrid) stations, all-Teaching stations and programs and all-Music stations. We learned plenty about why they listen…and why they leave.  

One of our big questions was about tune-outs. These are things your listener perceives you might do that would cause her to tune away or turn off the radio. These are the Top Five Tune-outs from the respondents who came from Hybrid stations and Teaching stations/programs. The percentages are the total of “very likely to turn off” and “somewhat likely to turn off”:

 Hybrid

1. They have a negative, angry, judgmental tone 77%
2. They talk about a topic I’m not interested in 50%
3. They play commercials 46%
4. An announcer talks too much 43%
5. They play songs I’m tired of 33%

Teaching

1. They have a negative, angry, judgmental tone 68%
2. They talk about a topic I’m not interested in  54%
3. They play commercials 48%
4. An announcer talks too much 46%
5. They play songs I’m tired of 38%

Last month, we focused on the no. 1 tune-out. These included negative, angry, judgmental tone and if you want listeners to stick with you, have a gentler, calmer approach to presenting the Gospel. 

This month, we’re focused on the no. 2 tuneout. Over half of our respondents in both formats, indicated they were very likely or somewhat likely to leave if the station or program was on a topic they weren’t interested in.  

Let’s take our imagination out of Christian radio for a moment. Let’s say you’re a Chicago sports fan and you’re listening to Chicago sports-talk radio. I’m writing this column in September. The no. 1 topic likely right now is Chicago Bears football. Cubs baseball, even though they’re out of the playoff race, is likely second most interesting. White Sox baseball is likely third most interesting (apologies to my friends who are Sox fans). Everything else (Bulls, Blackhawks, etc.) just aren’t all that interesting. If our sports-talk host has somehow landed on DePaul Men’s Basketball this evening and is talking about them because our caller asked a question about it, we’re dead with listeners. Very few people care. You can just hear the listeners leaving!  

It’s a similar challenge with Christian radio. If your listener shows up and you’re talking about something she doesn’t care about, there’s a good chance she’ll leave. Is it possible to be perfect on this with every listener every time? No. 

But you can certainly start here by: 

    • Being more aware of what she is interested in, which you can do by asking her.   
    • Then by increasing your focus on the topics she is interested in. 
    • Followed by decreasing your focus on the topics she isn’t interested in.

With as big a tune-out as uninteresting topics are, and with as much channel choices listeners have now, getting this right is crucial. 

We have an idea which topics these are and would love to discuss more if you’re interested. Visit our CONTACT US page to get connected.

The Finney Media 2021 Why Listen?® National Survey! Almost 11,000 respondents from three different formats: Music, all-Teaching and Hybrid stations. There’s so much fascinating information on our listeners. 

One of our big questions is about tune outs; the 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 stations and Teaching stations/programs. The percentages are the total of “very likely to turn off” and “somewhat likely to turn off”: 

Hybrid

1. They have a negative, angry, judgmental tone 77%
2. They talk about a topic I’m not interested in 50%
3. They play commercials 46%
4. An announcer talks too much 43%
5. They play songs you’re tired of 33%

Teaching

1. They have a negative, angry, judgmental tone  68%
2. They talk about a topic I’m not interested in 54%
3. They play commercials 48%
4. An announcer talks too much 46%
5. They play songs you’re tired of 38%

How do you keep your listener locked in?

We discussed in this column LAST MONTH how the main listener reasons for listening to Christian radio could be summed up in four words: Spiritual Growth and Encouragement. 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 and encouragement 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 tune outs are important (“talking too much about something that’s not interesting” comes to mind), but none is as important to your listener 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: Thoughts on the data above about listeners leaving when we talk about topics she’s not interested in and how we stay focused on being Biblically bold while consistently staying on more interesting topics.  

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

 

The 2021 Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey is out! Almost 11,000 respondents participated from three different formats – Music and Teaching (Hybrid) stations, Teaching stations and programs, and All-Music stations. The findings are fascinating!  

Today we begin a series of special monthly releases of the findings from that massive nationwide survey, specifically designed for Hybrid and Teaching broadcasters.  

In the survey, we presented listeners 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 (Hybrid): 

1. It helps me worship God throughout the day. 86%
2. It helps me grow spiritually. 85%
3. I like the worshipful Christian music. 80%
4. I want to be encouraged. 76%
5. It helps me understand the Bible better. 68%

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 (Teaching): 

1. It helps me grow spiritually. 87%
2. It helps me worship God throughout the day. 81%
3. It helps me understand the Bible better. 79%
4. I want to help spread Truth. 72%
5. I want to be encouraged. 70%

We believe there are at least two headlines to focus in on. First, if you were to sum up both of these, your listener is coming to you for Spiritual Growth and Encouragement. The more you deliver on these and less on other things, the more she will keep coming to you.  

Secondly, listeners want help with worshipping God from you . . . and they don’t identify worship with songs. It’s the no. 2 reason they come to Teaching Stations and Programs, and you don’t play many songs.  

Coming in September from the 2021 Why Listen?® Survey: The Top Five Listener Tune-outs for Hybrid and Teaching Stations. 

Want more? SIGN UP for our limited-time Why Listen® Pulse email series and get Teaching and Hybrid research delivered each month directly to your inbox.

Coming Soon

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