Nielsen Report Shows Radio’s Reach And ROI Advantage In Q3.

The Record, Nielsen’s quarterly report on audio listening, activity shows that during Q3 2026, U.S. consumers spent 83% of daily ad-supported audio time with radio and podcasts, vs. just 15% with streaming music services.

The report, which includes data from both Nielsen and Edison Research, also shows daily audio consumption in the U.S. during 2026’s third quarter averaged nearly four hours (3 hours and 55 minutes) of daily listening.

Radio’s monthly reach of adults stood at 92% — more than 242 million people — ahead of TV-connected devices (90%), smartphones (87%) and live and time-shifted TV (85%). Nielsen’s report notes radio’s strength across audiences, reaching 92% of Black adults, 93% of Hispanic adults and 87% of adults 18-34.

Additionally, two-thirds (65%) of adult radio listening takes place away from home, mostly in the car, hitting 73% during weekday drive times. AM/FM radio accounts for more than 80% of ad-supported in-car listening. According to Nielsen’s Global Compass benchmarks, radio delivered a weighted ROI of $2.00, second only to social media and ahead of TV, display, search and CTV. 

“For media planners, the takeaway is the same as last time, only stronger: an audio campaign built without both radio and podcasts misses the vast majority of the daily ad-supported audio audience,” the report says.

Edison’s Share of Ear data cited in the report shows AM/FM radio’s share of daily time spent remains strong across key demographics: 62% of persons 18+, 42% of 18-34s, 55% of 25-54s and 69% of persons 35+.

According to Nielsen’s breakdown of radio format listening, news/talk continues to lead all formats among persons 18+ with a 10.2 share, with adult contemporary still the leading music format with a 7.1 share in the demo. When it comes to digital streaming of AM/FM stations, spoken word formats grab a larger share of listening, with news/talk, sports and all-news together accounting for close to 36% of station streaming, more than twice their 17% share of all radio listening.

Among adults 18-34, AC leads station streaming with 13.1%, followed by sports (11.9%) and news/talk (8.5%), with CHR (7.2%) and urban AC (6.6%) over-indexing vs. total radio listening. In the 25-54 demo, both alternative (6.9%) and hot AC (6.2%) are over-indexing formats.