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.
