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October 2024: Top Five Marital Statuses among Teaching and Hybrid Listeners

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 Why Listen?® Survey has almost 15,000 respondents with over 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. In a snapshot from our 2023 nationwide survey, more friends are listening than just men and women who are married for the first time. Here are the Top Five Marital Statuses for CCM listeners ranked in our most recent nationwide survey:

Top Five Marital Statuses among CCM Listeners from the 2023 Why Listen Survey

1. Married First Time 46%
2. Re-married 21%
3. Divorced 14%
4. Single/Never Married 10%
5. Widowed 8%

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 less than half of your listeners. And if you assume she is married for the first time more often, you’re still talking to only 7 in 10. One-third of the CCM listeners in the Finney Media Why Listen® Survey are not currently married.

We’re coming up on the holidays, and for many of your listeners, that means blended family craziness (35% are re-married or divorced) or some form of alone (almost 20% are never married or widowed). It’s time to empathize with how complicated it is and tailor breaks, transitions and the like accordingly.

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

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 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  fascinating 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 just the respondents who came from Music stations. The percentages are the total of “very likely to turn off” and “somewhat likely to turn off”.

Top Five Reasons CCM Listeners Leave

1. They have a negative, angry, judgmental tone 84%
2. They play songs you don’t like 44%
3. An announcer talks too much 42%
4. They play commercials 40%
5. They talk about a topic you’re not interested in 40%

 

We discussed in this column the last couple months (see link below) how the main listener reasons for listening to Christian radio could be summed up in two words:spiritual encouragement. 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 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 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 November: The Top Five Marital Statuses of your listeners. Sneak peek: many are not currently married, and it’s important for us to talk to them in a way that doesn’t sound condescending/disrespectful.

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

September 2024: Top Five Reasons CCM Listeners Listen by gender and age (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 Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey surveyed almost 15,000 respondents from three different formats: Music stations, Music and Teaching stations and Teaching stations and programs. The findings are fascinating!

We presented listeners about twenty different reasons they might listen to their Christian radio station. This month, we show you the Top Five Main Reasons listeners listen, split into Women Under 55, Men Under 55, Women 55+ and Men 55+. The numbers are the percentage of respondents who indicated that’s a Main Reason they listen.

Women Under 55 Women 55+ Men Under 55 Men 55+
1. You like worshipful Christian music 93% 95% 90% 90%
2. It helps you worship God throughout the day 93% 93% 87% 83%
3. You want to be encouraged 85% 85% 76% 71%
4. It helps you grow spiritually 77% 78% 71% 70%
5. It’s safe for you and your family to listen to 76% 63% 71% 57%

We’ve highlighted in bold the Main Reasons above 80 percent. If you were to try to isolate the most motivating reasons for listening among these superfans, it would come down to worshipful encouragement. This is food for thought as you and your team discuss just how spiritually focused and encouraging your music selection and the breaks you’re doing between songs should be.

Coming next month from the Why Listen? Survey: The Top Five Reasons Listeners Tune Out or Leave.

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.

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 how interested your listener is in those topics. The list below is focused on the almost 5,000 respondents who came from Christian Music stations. These are the percentages who indicated they are “very interested”:

1. A word from Scripture and how it might apply to your life today 81%
2. Information on a local Christian concert 51%
3. Bible studies on topics such as prophecy, spiritual gifts, marriage, etc. 42%
4. A series on an entire book of the Bible 37%
5.  Ideas for free, fun activities with your family next weekend 35%

SPIRITUAL ENCOURAGEMENT!

In whatever form  we ask, our Christian radio listener is attracted to spiritual encouragement. Notice how far ahead of every other answer “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?

Second to last is “the latest decisions of politicians” at nine percent “very interested”. Dead last is “the latest news from Hollywood” at one percent “very interested”. Run from this topic!

Coming in September:  The Top Five Main Reasons CCM Listeners Listen

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.

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

We thought it would be profitable for you to see the Top Five Testing Songs from our recent research plus the next five songs. If you’re playing them, terrific! If you’re not, perhaps it’s time for a discussion about playing them.

Top Five Testing Songs

1. MercyMe – Greater 2014
2. Hillsong Worship – Who You Say I Am 2018
3. Phil Wickham – House of the Lord 2021
4. Chris Tomlin – Whom Shall I Fear 2012
5. Casting Crowns – Nobody 2018

and, the next five:

6. Matt Redman – 10,000 Reasons 2012
7. Lauren Daigle – You Say 2018
8. Newsboys – We Believe 2013
9. Cody Carnes – Ain’t Nobody 2022
10. Phil Wickham – This Is Amazing Grace 2013

A noteworthy fact before we say more on this list: For the first time since the movie came out, I Can Only Imagine is not among the Top 10 testing songs. But take a deep breath and don’t pull it off the air. It’s at no. 15.  

The most notable thing on this list is the surge in testing on worship songs. Hillsong Worship at no. 2. Tomlin at no. 4. Redman at no. 6. Carnes at no. 9. Wickham at no. 10. Our listeners love worship songs and, if anything, the scores are climbing.

Coming in August: The Top Five Testing Topics.

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