Nielsen Trends Show PM Drive Listening Leads AM In Top 10 Markets.

Note to programmers, station owners and advertisers thinking mornings still rule when it comes to weekdays in major market: think again.

A look at weekly cume among persons 18+ in Nielsen’s top 10 markets during its May 2025 and May 2026 surveys finds that afternoon drive (Mon.-Fri. 3-7pm) is significantly ahead of mornings (Mon.-Fri. 6-10am), based on share of total cume delivery for the two dayparts. For May 2026, PM drive’s share was 56.8% vs. AM’s 43.2%, up a bit from May 2025’s 56.3% vs. 43.7%.

In two of the top 10 markets, PM drive’s share was even higher, at 58.9% for Chicago and 58.0% in New York. Afternoons’ share was up year-over-year in five of the 10: New York (58.0%, vs. 55.8% in May 2025), Chicago (58.9%, vs. 57.7%), San Francisco (56.3%, vs. 55.8%), Philadelphia (56.5%, vs. 56.2%) and Boston (55.0%, vs. 53.9%).

Here are the comparisons for the other five markets, during the May 2026 Nielsen survey:

Los Angeles - 56.7% of persons 18+ weekly cume in PM drive, 43.3% in AM

Dallas – 55.7% PM, 44.3% AM

Houston – 56.1% PM, 43.9% AM

Atlanta – 55.8% PM, 44.2% AM

Washington, DC – 55.9% PM, 44.1% AM

Likewise, results of a recent Crowd React Media study of more than 1,000 U.S. adults showed the share of listeners identifying afternoon as their primary radio listening period has increased steadily since 2024, while morning has moved in the opposite direction. Over the past two years, the share of those saying morning is their primary listening time fell from 52% to 40%, while afternoon moved from 28% to 34%.