PPM Format Trends, 2025: A Good Year For Contemporary Christian.

Contemporary Christian might not be the most listened-to radio format — it ranks 10th among persons 6+, 11th among 18-34s, and 13th for 25-54s — but based on its steady share growth over the past three years in Nielsen’s PPM markets, it continues to have the best story of tell of any format in Inside Radio’s analysis of average quarter-hour share data in these markets (covering Monday-Sunday 6am-midnight).

With another complete year of Nielsen data in the books, contemporary Christian’s shares are up 34% since 2022 in 6+, 33% 25-54, and 52% among 18-34s. Comparing last year’s Holiday survey to the one just released, shares are up significantly in all three of those key demographics. In fact, they’re still up when comparing last year’s Holiday books to the three months leading up to Holiday 2025, excluding the boost seen by those contemporary Christian stations temporarily switching to all Christmas music.

The year-end shows good and not-so-good news for adult contemporary, where most of the all-Christmas action is.

The good news: AC is still the only format posting double-digit shares during Nielsen’s December and Holiday surveys, and it’s still the uncontested top-ranked format for 18-34 and 25-54, while settling for second among 6+ behind news/talk. Also good news: for 18-34 and 25-54, AC’s shares were steadily creeping upward even before the switch to all Christmas music.

The not-so-good news: since Holiday 2023, AC’s Christmas shares have steadily declined, -2.3 points for 6+ (15.0-13.5-12.7), -1.6 for 18-34 (16.1-15.9-14.5) and -1.7 for 25-54 (14.5-13.2-12.8). AC’s full-year shares see a similar pattern since 2023 for 6+ (9.1-8.6-8.0) and 25-54 (9.1-8.4-8.0), while off just half a point year-over-year for 18-34 (9.4-8.9).

News/talk, which is top-ranked 6+, second among 25-54s and 10th for 18-34s, gains just two-tenths of a share point in all three demos from 2024 to 2025. Arguably, that’s impressive following a Presidential election year, with major stories nearly every week in 2025 — including the L.A. fires and Texas floods, the Gaza ceasefire, the Epstein files, the government shutdown, the selection of a new Pope, the Charlie Kirk assassination, November’s highly-publicized gubernatorial and mayoral elections, and the endless list of events resulting from Donald Trump’s return to the presidency, from DOGE to tariffs to ICE to Venezuela.

Country, ranking third in 6+ and 18-34 and fourth 25-54, is up one-tenth of a share point year-over-year in the first two demos, while down 0.3 in 25-54. CHR — second-ranked for 18-34 and third 25-54, while seventh 6+ — shows no significant growth in either demo, with year-over-year shares flat or down 0.1.

Modern/alternative rock continues its growth story in 2025, with a 2.5-2.7-2.8 uptrend since 2023 in 6+, and a similar 3.7-4.0-4.2 track for 25-54, with even 18-34 up 0.2 year-over-year. While hot AC is flat vs. 2024 in 18-34, where the format ranks fourth, it’s up 0.3 year-over-year for both 6+ and 25-54.

Neither urban AC or urban contemporary have gained much ground vs. 2024, which is also the case for both Spanish regional Mexican and Spanish contemporary. Classic rock, meanwhile, is slightly down everywhere: -.2 in 6+, -.3 18-34, and -.1 25-54.