Click here to view a 9-minute video of the key takeaways.

Click here to download the NFL listening study for advertisers.

Click here to download NFL listening study for station affiliates.

Looking to jump-start your 2025 media plans with a mass reach platform of super engaged NFL fans? Look no further than NFL postseason coverage on Westwood One beginning on Saturday, January 11th with Super Wild Card Weekend.

To build an NFL postseason TV plan, a media strategist needs to secure time across multiple different video platforms: Fox, CBS, NBC, Amazon Prime Video, and ESPN/ABC. To build an audio plan for the NFL postseason, all roads lead to Westwood One, the exclusive home for coverage of all postseason games including the Super Bowl.

According to a brand-new Nielsen analysis of Portable People Meter tuning for the 2023/2024 season, a total of 30 million people listen to the NFL postseason on Westwood One.

Key findings of the 2024 Westwood One NFL Postseason Listening Study:

• More engaged: The NFL listener is more passionate, and sports engaged, giving audio commercials greater impact
• Mass reach: Buy deep in a game and long in the postseason to capture the massive 30 million reach
• Closest to the point of purchase: Reach busy on-the-go people whose “best available screen” is their in-car AM/FM radio
• Desirable consumers: Reach a young, employed, and upscale audience with greater spending power
• Makes your TV better: The postseason NFL on Westwood One is an effective way to amplify reach and frequency of an NFL TV campaign

The NFL on AM/FM radio is a reach machine: Each week, new listeners tune in

NFL AM/FM radio broadcasts fit into the busy lives of Americans. Some have to go to the mall to pick up their children. Others are running errands or returning from a trip to visit relatives. In Mountain and Pacific time zones, prime time games air during the drive home from work.

The NFL on Westwood One is a massive reach machine, adding new and different listeners each and every week. Over the entire regular season, Westwood One’s NFL play-by-play reaches 53.5 million different Americans.

What happens in the postseason? Westwood One’s NFL coverage reaches 30 million sports fans including 10 million listeners who were not reached during the regular season.

Adding Westwood One’s NFL audio platform to an NFL video plan generates incremental reach

A game day audience study fielded by the NFL found adding Westwood One’s audio broadcast to NFL TV plans increases reach by +16% among high income 18-49 employed men. Among young men 18-34, Westwood One’s audio platform adds +19% reach to the TV plan.

Nielsen: The Westwood One NFL audience is upscale

Nielsen’s just released analysis of Westwood One’s NFL audience across the 2023/2024 season was conducted using the 80,000-person Portable People Meter panel. Nielsen’s analysis reveals Westwood One’s NFL audience is upper income and employed, with larger households and more likely to have kids.

MRI-Simmons: Versus the TV audience, postseason NFL listeners are younger, more employed, and more upscale than the NFL postseason TV audience

The NFL on Westwood One: The best available screen in the car

Nielsen’s Portable People Meter analysis reveals 86% of the Westwood one NFL audience is reached away from home at some point during their exposure to the audio broadcasts.

NFL postseason play-by-play listeners are +46% more sports engaged and passionate versus postseason NFL TV viewers

The TV and AM/FM radio NFL broadcasts have very different audience profiles. The TV audience consists of casual sports fans.

The AM/FM radio play-by-play audience is far more sports passionate and engaged. This distinction has a significant impact on advertising effectiveness.

MRI-Simmons reports across eleven different measures of sports passion, the NFL postseason listening audience is +46% more sports engaged than the NFL postseason TV audience.

MRI-Simmons finds that across all eleven sports passion measures, Westwood One’s NFL postseason listening audience exhibits much stronger engagement than the NFL postseason TV audience.

Who has the NFL app? Nearly twice as many NFL audio listeners have the NFL app versus frequent NFL viewers

If you need more evidence that AM/FM radio listeners are far more engaged with the NFL than TV viewers, look at who has the NFL app on their phone. A 2023 MARU/Matchbox study reveals 70% of frequent NFL audio listeners have the NFL app compared to only 39% of frequent NFL TV viewers.

Sports betting is twice as prevalent among NFL postseason AM/FM radio listeners versus the TV audience

Another key measure of passion and engagement is online sports betting. AM/FM radio listeners are more likely to be sports bettors, according to the Spring 2024 MRI-Simmons study.

The NFL audio audience is twice as likely to be sports bettors than the TV audience. Westwood One’s postseason broadcast listeners are 238% more likely to be sports betters compared to the U.S. average. TV viewers are only 102% more likely.

In the market to make a purchase: Postseason NFL listeners are +25% more likely to buy across 23 categories versus NFL postseason viewers

Whether its leasing a vehicle, hiring a financial advisor, buying a truck or SUV, getting a pet, or buying a major appliance, the NFL postseason AM/FM radio audience is far more likely to be in the market to make a purchase compared to the NFL postseason TV audience.

NFL postseason audio ads work better at reaching category influentials: NFL audio listeners are +50% more likely than NFL TV viewers to be product and brand “category influentials”

The Spring 2024 MRI-Simmons study reveals those tuning in to NFL postseason on AM/FM radio are more likely than the U.S. average to be product gurus and influencers across a variety of key consumer categories. Across 17 product categories, the NFL audio audience is +50% more likely than the NFL TV audience to be category influential consumers.

The NFL audio audience has greater savvy when it comes to products and services fueling substantial trust from others. Marketers who advertise in Westwood One’s NFL play-by-play audio coverage reach a more influential consumer base, extending the reach of messaging beyond the fans who tune in.

Key findings of the 2024 Westwood One NFL Postseason Listening Study:

• More engaged: The NFL listener is more passionate, and sports engaged, giving audio commercials greater impact
• Mass reach: Buy deep in a game and long in the postseason to capture the massive 30 million reach
• Closest to the point of purchase: Reach busy on-the-go people whose “best available screen” is their in-car AM/FM radio
• Desirable consumers: Reach a young, employed, and upscale audience with greater spending power
• Makes your TV better: The postseason NFL on Westwood One is an effective way to amplify reach and frequency of an NFL TV campaign

To learn more about how Westwood One’s NFL postseason can jumpstart your 2025 marketing plans, contact Adam Shifrin, Vice President, Sports Sales & Marketing | Westwood One, at ashifrin@westwoodone.com.

Click here to view a 9-minute video of the key takeaways.

View or download the 2024 NFL Listening Report for advertisers:

View or download the 2024 NFL Listening Report for affiliates:

Pierre Bouvard is Chief Insights Officer of the Cumulus Media | Westwood One Audio Active Group^®.

Contact the Insights team at CorpMarketing@westwoodone.com.