As 2023 comes to an end, we’re looking back at the blog posts that resonated the most. Here are our top 5 most popular audio insights posts of the year in descending order:

5. Is YouTube Eating Podcasts? Cumulus Media And Signal Hill Insights’ Podcast Download – Spring 2023 Report: In June we released Cumulus Media and Signal Hill Insights’ Podcast Download – Spring 2023 Report, the tenth in the twice annual series of studies analyzing the media habits of weekly podcast consumers. Our fifth most popular blog post highlighted the findings from the report on YouTube, revealing it to be the most utilized podcast listening platform in the U.S.

4. 82 Million Reasons To Keep AM Radio In Vehicles, Why AM/FM Radio Is Still The Queen Of The Road, And Growing Advertiser Interest For In-Dash Visuals That Accompany An AM/FM Radio Ad: The value of AM radio in the car received some powerful support in the form of Nielsen audience data released in the Spring. The fourth most read post outlined AM radio’s massive reach among Americans, AM/FM radio’s dominant ad-supported share in the car, and discussed the growing interest among advertisers and agencies for visuals in the car to accompany AM/FM radio ads.

3. 7 New Findings About The Podcast Audience: The Cumulus Media 2023 Audioscape: Cumulus Media’s Audioscape is a report that draws from Edison Research’s “Share of Ear” study to analyze the profile and habits of podcast consumers. Our third most read blog outlined the seven major findings from the 2023 update, covering talk/personality content, the stability of the podcast audience’s median age, location of listening, opportunities for growth in markets 51+, and more.

2. Surprise: AM/FM Radio Ratings Overtake TV Among Persons 18-49 For The First Time In Media History: Our second most read blog of 2023 covered the historic moment in March when Nielsen reported AM/FM radio ratings beat TV among persons 18-49. With TV reach among persons 18-49 dropping -28% and time spent viewing eroding -56%, the data from Nielsen’s Total Audience Report made the case for advertisers to turn from TV to AM/FM radio for massive reach and significant time spent.

And our most popular post…

1. New Nielsen Study: 141 Local Markets Where AM Radio Is Listened To By At Least 20% Of The Radio Audience: AM radio’s place in the car was the most compelling topic of the year. The number one blog post of 2023 featured a ranker depicting the % of the metro radio audience that listens to AM radio in a month. The analysis was based upon radio stations that are Nielsen subscribers and markets where AM radio represents at least 20% of radio listening were listed. The key takeaways? Cities with the largest proportion of AM listening consisted of a wide variety of market sizes and broad geographic diversity. High AM listening markets tended to be from the upper Midwest and those with hilly terrain (San Jose/San Francisco/Sacramento), which are challenging for FM signals.

Lauren Vetrano is the VP of Advertiser Measurement & Insights of the Cumulus Media | Westwood One Audio Active Group^®.

Contact the Insights team at CorpMarketing@westwoodone.com.