Nielsen’s Three-Minute Qualifier Boosts AM/FM Listening Across All Demos.

Since Nielsen’s modernization of its five-minute listening qualifier rule in Portable People Meter markets to allow for tuning occasions that are three minutes or more, previously uncaptured listening has now been reflected in the ratings. AQH is up across all demographics and time periods, according to its Spring 2025 Nielsen Nationwide study of total U.S. listening.

The study, which aggregates listening from all counties including all PPM and diary markets, shows total U.S. AM/FM radio average quarter hour listening up 6% among adults 25-54 vs. Nielsen’s Fall 2024 Nationwide report. There’s growth in every daypart, most notably during weeknights, where AQH is up 11%, and weekends, which see a 9% lift.

“Nielsen’s three-minute qualifier modernization provides a significantly more comprehensive and realistic definition of AM/FM radio’s audience and their listening behavior,” Cumulus Media/Westwood One Audio Active Group Chief Insights Officer Pierre Bouvard says in an analysis of Nielsen’s report in Westwood One’s blog. “Nielsen found 23% of PPM listening occasions were three or four minutes. Under the old five-minute listening qualifier rule, none of this tuning would have received listening credit.”

For persons 18+, the analysis reveals greater audience growth for men (+6.5%) than women (+4.8%), with significant gains in all adult demographic groups. Compared to Fall 2024, AM/FM radio AQH is up in adults 18-34 (+3.7%), 18-49 (+4.7%), 25-54 (+5.8%) and 35-64 (+6.7%). While 18+ overall is up 5.7%, there's greater representation of college graduate listening (+8.9%) and those with an annual income of $75k or higher (+11.2%).

Since Nielsen’s qualifier adjustment, format shares have generally held steady, with notable increases for rock and news listening. There are also AQH increases for both Hispanic and Black audiences across all dayparts (in line with 25-54s overall) and demos.

Another benefit of Nielsen’s move to three-minute qualifying is that stations can create more and shorter ad breaks, resulting in higher audience retention.

“Creating more ad breaks of shorter duration generates larger commercial audiences,” Bouvard says. “Advertisers stand out more in shorter breaks. Growing audience deliveries for AM/FM radio ads improve AM/FM radio’s performance in media mix modeling and marketing effectiveness studies.”

Based on this analysis, Bouvard notes several other implications of PPM listening increases due to Nielsen’s adjustment: “The trend of AM/FM radio surpassing TV in ratings will accelerate; 2025 post-buy analyses will overachieve 2024 media plans; [and] AM/FM radio, already America’s number one mass reach media, will experience reach growth in advertising schedules.”