Pew Research Center's just-published findings from its examination of hundreds of local and regional public radio and TV stations, as part of its bi-annual “State of the News Media,” show that public radio's audience trended down in 2022, part of a steady decline since 2017, although local station and NPR revenue continued to grow.
“On the whole, [while] the news offerings of U.S. public broadcasters have been marked by relative financial stability, with some declines in audience since 2020, the financial picture for news outlets in public radio appeared mostly strong both locally and nationally,” Pew's report says.
Both locally and nationally, there are mixed signals. While NPR's total operating revenue in 2022 was $316.7 million, up 8% from 2021's $293.0 million, Public Radio Exchange (PRX) fell nearly 17% year-over-year, to $36.1 million in total revenue in 2022, from 2021's $43.6 million. For NPR, however, with the exception of a revenue dip in COVID-impacted 2020, it's been steady increases since 2015.
The good news for local public radio stations is that Pew's analysis of 129 of the largest news-oriented licensees shows that in fiscal year 2021, total revenue hit $1.2 billion, continuing a steady upward trend since 2015. However, looking at two major sources of funding — individual giving (including member revenue and major gifts) and underwriting (from businesses and foundations as well as other nonprofit organizations) — while both account for a combined $647.6 million in revenue in 2021, the former saw a decline from 2020 following yearly growth dating back to 2008, while the latter showed a second consecutive annual decline since 2019.
For these 129 stations, program and production expenses totaled $480.2 million in 2021, down from $539.4 million in 2020. Until that 11% drop, expenses had increased every year since 2008. “While program and production expenses comprise only a portion of overall station expenses, a decrease in these kinds of expenditures indicates that the stations are directing fewer dollars toward the creation of news content,” Pew's report says.
As for listening trends, the top 20 NPR-affiliated public radio stations (based on listenership) had on average a total weekly listenership of close to 8 million in 2022, down 10% from 2021. NPR's weekly audience has steadily declined since 2017. Looking specifically at NPR programming across all stations that carry it, weekly terrestrial broadcast listenership declined by 6% between 2021 and 2022. Nearly 23.5 million average weekly listeners tuned in to NPR programming during the year, down from 25.1 million in 2021, again continuing a gradual decline since 2017.
PRX programs on public radio stations, such as “The World” and “The Takeaway,” fell 24% year-over-year to nearly 6.7 million average weekly listeners, a 24% drop since 2021.