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May 2023: Top Five Reasons Hybrid & Teaching Listeners Listen

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.

The 2023 Finney Media Why Listen® Survey is out! 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. Here are the Top Five Main Reasons for Music Station respondents. The numbers are the percentage of respondents who indicated that’s a Main Reason they listen.

Top Five Reasons CCM Listeners Listen (2023):

1. You like the 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 my family to listen to. 67%

The no. 1 and no. 2 reasons are roughly equal, and a powerful impetus for us to consider the spiritual temperature of our stations. It appears that our biggest fans – the folks who took the time to complete the survey – continue to want an overtly spiritual focus to our sound.

Laser beam your vision onto the first four reasons. Those are the ones over 75% indicating it’s a main reason they listen. You could boil those four reasons down to two words: Spiritual Encouragement.

It leads us to our Action Points for CCM Stations:

  1. Talk just long enough. Don’t fill. 
  2. Help her grow spiritually. 
  3. Help her feel encouraged.

Coming next month: From the 2023 Why Listen? Survey, we take a look at the Top Reasons split out by gender and by age. Do women rate the reasons differently from men? Do younger listeners rate the reasons differently from older listeners?

…and the next five, too!

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.

In February, we showed you the TOP FIVE FEMALE ARTISTS. In March, the TOP FIVE MALE ARTISTS. In April, the TOP FIVE GROUPS.

Now, we reveal the Top Five CCM Artists – Male, Female and Group – from our recent research. And, we include the second five. All CCM, all in one list:

  1. MercyMe
  2. Chris Tomlin
  3. Casting Crowns
  4. Jeremy Camp
  5. Zach Williams
  6. Lauren Daigle
  7. Third Day
  8. Matthew West
  9. Phil Wickham
  10. Big Daddy Weave (tie) & Crowder (tie)

To make this list, you must have 1.) a lot of songs that 2.) test well. And MercyMe sure fits that description. Their older material tests well. Their newer material tests well. Enough that they take over the top spot in our list. In fact, each of our Top Four Artists have great testing materials that spans 20 years.

Zach Williams continues to bring out great testing song after great testing song. Same with Lauren Daigle. Both of them have been making great CCM songs for less than 10 years.

We’ve seen Matthew West come on strong lately, with a number of great testing songs in the past five years.

Coming in June: We’ve completed the 2023 Finney Media Why Listen® Survey. We’ll begin to reveal key findings next month.

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 the country.

In February, we showed you the TOP FIVE FEMALE ARTISTS. In March, the TOP FIVE MALE ARTISTS. Now, we reveal the Top Five CCM Groups 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 CCM Groups

1. MercyMe
2. Casting Crowns
3. Third Day
4. Big Daddy Weave
5. Elevation Worship

With over 20 years of chart success, and songs from both of the last two decades testing well, MercyMe tops our list. Casting Crowns is a close second and, like MercyMe, have continued to have songs from recently and from more than 10 years ago continue to test well. Third Day continues to score well with CCM listeners therefore it’s likely not time to retire their songs from your library. Big Daddy Weave, with their long history and lots of great testing songs, pulls in at no.4. Worship songs and artists continue to test strongly, and you see that with our now no.5 group Elevation Worship.

Coming in April: We bring it all together and look at The Top Five Artists – Male, Female and Groups – all in one ranker.

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

We thought it would be helpful for you 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:

1. Chris Tomlin
2. Jeremy Camp
3. Zach Williams
4. Matthew West
5. Phil Wickham

If you do music testing, you know that Chris Tomlin’s songs are still testing great! So are Jeremy Camp’s, who is now not all that far from overtaking Tomlin. And Zach Williams has come on strong the past year. Matthew West is no surprise at no. 4, given his amazing 20-year career. His latest songs have been especially strong. Phil Wickham helps show the lean of the CCM fan in the direction of worship.

Coming in April: The Top Five Groups in nationwide CCM Music Research during 2022. Be sure you’re playing these artists to grow your listenership.

READ THE TOP FIVE TESTING FEMALES OF 2022.

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

We thought it might spark new ideas 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 Artists

1. Lauren Daigle
2. Francesca Battistelli
3. Tasha Layton
4. Kari Jobe
5. Anne Wilson

We’ve seen a resurgence of top testing songs by women in the past few years, including Tasha Layton’s and Anne Wilson’s debuts. Francesca Battistelli and Kari Jobe continue to score well. But 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 scores are so much higher than the others that her score total – driven by a number of hit songs with high scores – is larger than the three artists right behind her. 

Coming in March: The Top Five Male Artists in nationwide CCM Music Research during 2022. Be sure you’re playing these artists to grow your listenership. 

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

We thought it would be helpful and fun for you to see the Top Five Tested Songs from our research recently…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, Even If 2016
2. MercyMe, I Can Only Imagine 2001
3. Anne Wilson, My Jesus 2021
4. Newsboys, We Believe 2013
5. Bethel Music, No Longer Slaves 2015

…and the next five:

6. Lauren Daigle, You Say 2018
7. Cory Asbury, Reckless Love 2018
8. Phil Wickham, This Is Amazing Grace 2013
9. For King & Country, God Only Knows 2018
10. (tie) MercyMe, Greater 2014
10. (tie) Josh Baldwin, Stand In Your Love 2018

MercyMe – Three songs in the Top 10! Including I Can Only Imagine. If you’ve continued to test it, you’ve likely seen similar top testing results.  

And half of the Top 10 are from the past five years, including four songs from 2018. That also means half are from more than five years ago. For stations who continued to play these titles, they continue to perform very well. 

Coming in February: The Top Five Artists in nationwide CCM Music Research during 2022. Be sure you’re playing these artists and grow your listenership. 

The 2021 Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey included almost 11,000 Christian radio listener respondents from three different formats: all-Music stations, Music/Teaching (Hybrid) stations, All-Teaching stations, and programs.

We asked them 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 . . . a reason for their move from listening to giving.

1. Feeling called by God to give 85%
2. I believe in the mission and vision of the ministry 82%
3. Knowing God tells us to support those who ministry to us 60%
4. An emergency need at the ministry 36%
5. A story about someone’s life that was changed through the ministry 32%

The no. 1 and no. 2 responses – “Feeling called by God to give” and “I believe in the mission and vision of the ministry” – tell us something important. So crucial that you communicate clearly and often your mission and vision. Both on air and off air. 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 Artists – and the Top Five Songs – in nationwide CCM Music Research during 2022. Be sure you’re playing these artists and these songs and grow your listenership.

 

The 2021 Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey! Almost 11,000 respondents with over one million data points from three different formats, including Music stations, Music/Teaching stations, All-Teaching stations & 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 3,000+ respondents who came from 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 83%
2. Information on a local Christian concert 52%
3. Bible studies on topics such as prophecy, spiritual gifts, marriage, etc. 49%
4. Stories about how people helped a neighbor after a tragedy 47%
5. A prayer of thanksgiving from a local pastor 42%

SPIRITUAL ENCOURAGEMENT! 

In whatever form or forum we ask, our Christian radio listener is attracted to spiritual encouragement. Notice just how far ahead of every other answer “A Word from Scripture and how it might apply to your life today” shows up! 

What topics score lowest?  

Second to last is “the latest decisions of politicians” at 11 percent “very interested”. Dead last – run quickly away from this – is “the latest news from Hollywood” at 2 percent “very interested”.    

Coming in December: The Top Five Reasons Christian Radio Listeners Give To Your Station. The Why Listen? Survey includes a lot (what percentage were donors?) of donors, so we’re asking the folks who support you now. 

…and how Music Station Listeners are different from Music/Teaching Stations and All-Teaching Station Listeners

In the Finney Media 2021 Why Listen?® Survey there were almost 11,000 respondents from three different formats : Music stations, Music/Teaching stations, and all-Teaching stations & programs.

The centerpiece of the survey was the reasons Christian radio listeners listen. It turns out, in some cases, that listeners who came from CCM stations listen for reasons similar to listeners  from Music/Teaching stations and all-Teaching stations . . . and then there are a few reasons that are different. Here are the percentages, by format, of the Main Reasons respondents gave as to why they listen:

(Move to before the list to reduce confusion.) Note: 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.

Music Station Respondents:

1. I like the worshipful Christian music 92%
2. It helps me worship God throughout the day 91%
3. I want to be encouraged 83%
4. It helps me grow spiritually 78%
5. I want to get away from negativity on other stations 67%

Music/Teaching Station Respondents:

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%

All-Teaching Station Respondents:

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%

 A few observations:

  • It’s fascinating to us that “It helps me worship God throughout the day” shows up strongly even among the Teaching station listeners who play no music. Christian radio listeners, it would appear, identify not only the songs but what happens between the songs as helping with their worship experience from radio. Your songs help them worship. So do the breaks you do between the songs. Definitely something to pray about as you plan your content.
  • Notice the Bible-focused and evangelism reasons that showed up higher for the stations that lean toward Teaching programs – “It helps me understand the Bible better” and “I want to help spread Truth” showing up much more strongly than those reasons did with music listeners.
  • We believe that the biggest headline is this: 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”, it is as if our listener is saying “I’m coming to you for SPIRITUAL ENCOURAGEMENT”.

Coming in November: The Top Five Most Interesting On-Air Topics. There is one that is much bigger than all the others.  You won’t want to miss it!

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