The Top 5 Reasons Christian Radio Listeners Listen

In 2023’s Finney Media Why Listen?® Survey 2023 there were almost 15,000 respondents from three different formats – CCM stations, Music/Teaching (Hybrid) stations, and all-Teaching stations & programs. 

The centerpiece of the survey is the reasons Christian radio listeners listen. It turns out that in some cases, listeners who came from CCM stations listen for reasons similar to listeners from both Music/Teaching (Hybrid) stations and all-Teaching stations and programs and then there are a few reasons that are different. Here are the percentages, by format, of respondents who said that’s a Main Reason they listen:

 

Music Station Respondents

1. You like worshipful Christian music 93%
2. It helps you worship God throughout the day 91%
3. You want to be encouraged 82%
4. It helps you grow spiritually 76%
5. It’s safe for you and your family to listen to 67%

 

Music/Teaching (Hybrid) Station Respondents

1. It helps you grow spiritually 85%
2. It helps you worship God throughout the day 84%
3. You want to be encouraged 73%
4. You like worshipful Christian music 71%
5. It helps you understand the Bible better 71%

 

All-Teaching Station Respondents

1. It helps you grow spiritually 92%
2. It helps you understand the Bible better 85%
3. It helps you worship God throughout the day 81%
4. You want to hear sermons 77%
5. You want to be encouraged 71%

 

The answers in bold are the ones not common to all three formats. The ones not in bold made the Top Five Main Reasons for each of the formats. A few observations:

• It makes sense that “I like the worshipful Christian music” would not show up as a top Main Reason for Teaching Station respondents since those stations don’t play any music.
• A more Bible-focused and evangelism reason shows up higher for the stations that lean toward Teaching programs “It helps you understand the Bible better” showing up much more strongly than that reason did with music listeners.
• We believe that the biggest headlines are this. When you look at the Main Reasons that are common to all three formats “It helps me worship God throughout the day”, “It helps me grow spiritually” and “I want to be encouraged” it is as if our CCM listener is saying “I’m coming to you for Spiritual Encouragement. Because of the differences in Hybrid and Teaching stations and programs, for those stations, it’s more Spiritual Growth.

Coming in December: The Top 5 Reasons Listeners Give.