Format Trends: AC Still Dominates, Classic Formats Gain In Key Demos.

Adult contemporary remains radio’s top format, based on Inside Radio’s analysis of average-quarter-hour share data in PPM markets, covering Monday-Sunday 6am-midnight, including shares from Nielsen’s just-released August 2026 survey (covering July 23-August 19).

As has been the case all this year, AC has maintained a significant lead in both the persons 18-34 and 25-54 demographics. For August, it’s 1.5 share points ahead of second-ranked country in the former demo (7.9-6.4), while 1.3 in front of news/talk (7.2-5.9) in the latter. Nielsen’s January-to-August format ranking shows AC 1.5 ahead of CHR (9.1-7.6) for 18-34, and 1.4 points over news/talk (8.4-7.0) in 25-54.

While overall rankings may differ for both demos, there are notable similarities when it comes to trends, whether upward or downward. Comparing January to August shares, both classic hits and classic rock have gained for 18-34 (5.1-5.7, 3.9-4.8) and 25-54 (4.8-5.1, 4.1-4.5). 

That’s also true for modern/alternative rock, which leans heavily on classic alternative (4.0-4.4 for 18-34, 4.5-4.8 for 25-54), and for 90s-00s adult hits (3.0-3.5 18-34, 3.0-3.2 25-54).

Yearly trends show similar growth for adult hits (3.4-3.8 18-34, 3.2-3.6 25-54) and contemporary Christian, a juggernaut over the past four years (2.6-3.9 18-34, 3.1-4.5 25-54).

There are also similar trends in both demos for several declining formats, both monthly and yearly. CHR’s monthly trend is 6.9-6.2 in 18-34 and 5.9-5.5 for 25-54, while 9.4-7.6 and 7.3-6.6 for those demos yearly. News/talk shows monthly shares down 4.1-3.4 18-34 and 6.3-5.9 25-54, with yearly trending 5.6-4.4 and 8.3-7.0 for both, respectively. 

Finally, Spanish regional Mexican’s shares are declining across the board, with the monthly trend 3.7-3.0 for 18-34 and 4.3-3.6 in 25-54, with the longer view showing the format at 4.0-3.7 for 18-34 and 4.8-4.4 among 25-54s.