General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNPR Radio Ratings Collapse As Pandemic Ends Listeners' Commutes
Broadcast ratings for nearly all of NPR's radio shows took a steep dive in major markets this spring, as the coronavirus pandemic kept many Americans from commuting to work and school. The network's shows lost roughly a quarter of their audience between the second quarter of 2019 and the same months in 2020.
People who listened to NPR shows on the radio at home before the pandemic by and large still do. But many of those who listened on their commute have not rejoined from home. And that threatens to alter the terrain for NPR for years to come, said Lori Kaplan, the network's senior director of audience insights.
The drop affected shows across the day, though the midday show Here & Now has fared better than the flagship morning and afternoon shows, Morning Edition and All Things Considered. Several NPR programs that don't revolve around the news, such as Ask Me Another, the TED Radio Hour, and Hidden Brain, have also lost listenership.
NPR's research revealed recommencing commutes would boost back audience the most. Yet a significant minority of public radio listeners said they would tune in more often if NPR shows offered a greater variety of news coverage, beyond the coronavirus, recent protests for social justice and the election.
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/07/15/891404076/npr-radio-ratings-collapse-as-pandemic-kills-listeners-commutes
samnsara
(17,619 posts)..Hubby still commutes a hr a day and listens to it...
DonaldsRump
(7,715 posts)That was my Saturday morning (CarTalk) and late Saturday afternoon/early evening (APHC).
Great shows, and I miss them terribly!
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,848 posts)How can they tell whether the radios tuned in are in cars or at home?
That sounds like it should be an Onion story.
Cattledog
(5,914 posts)PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,848 posts)Guy Whitey Corngood
(26,500 posts)of the alternatives.
Awsi Dooger
(14,565 posts)I'll never criticize them given the grotesque nature of all the alternatives
CRK7376
(2,199 posts)not listening to NPR now that I don't commute to and from work. Working from home, wife and kids are sleeping in, I'm outside gardening, working on my lesson plans for eLearning classroom (high school history), surfing DU and listening to music....Guilty I am.....
gulliver
(13,180 posts)SharonAnn
(13,772 posts)Get up and turn it on in the living room and kitchen. Informative and low key while I wake up.
misanthrope
(7,411 posts)I'll be surprised if they can regain all of it.
Truth be told, I don't know how terrestrial radio has withstood the tech changes of the last 20 years.
Tarheel_Dem
(31,233 posts)I'd listen all day at work. I've become a TV junkie. I hope we can get back to some kind of "normal" so NPR doesn't go under.