Moneyball: A Deep Dive into Country P1s
• With less than five weeks to go until the start of the fall book, we’re drilling down each week into findings concerning one of music radio’s top formats. Given our work with CRS in recent years, Country seems like a fine place to begin.
Last week we drilled into the most widely used social media channels among music radio P1s, showing Country’s comparatively greater reliance on the behemoths, Facebook and YouTube. When we ask Country P1s about how important various media and digital presences are in their lives, only YouTube, Google, Amazon, and Facebook rank ahead of their favorite (Country) music radio station.
That’s rarefied air for music radio in 2025 and it shows how critical it is to make listeners feel smart and valued for coming back day after day.
Another sign of how addictive Country radio can be is the result of asking P1s, “What did you hear most recently in a car, SUV, etc.?” Fully two thirds of Country radio P1s say they last heard the radio in the car.
While we’re not showing the data here, we’d shown earlier this summer that radio suffers a little bit when we ask respondents what they use most often in a car. But we like the odds when radio is the last thing they heard — because that means it’ll probably be the first thing they hear the next time they’re behind the wheel.
Asked their top three reasons for listening to the radio, Country P1s are most likely to say: it’s free, for companionship, and for mood improvement. Weather makes their top five, though for some they say radio is the only option in their vehicle.
Asked why they tune out or change stations, commercial breaks are third on the list among Country P1s. Their top tune-out is that “commercials keep going and going.” They also complain about “burned out songs,” “too many bad songs,” and “new songs I don’t know.” With so much at stake, it pays to use every bit of intel you can muster to make the music schedule perfect every hour.
Country P1s are a comparatively loyal bunch. When pressed for music formats they hear almost as much as their favorite, AC leads the pack — but among only 35% of the Country P1 group. About a quarter admit to using Classic Rock nearly as much. Some of the AC share may be related to at-work listening. For more recent Country converts, the other formats represent the types of music that had been their favorite in the past.
With the fall book less than five weeks away, it’s still possible to plan fall marketing campaigns. It’s NuVoodoo’s experience finding the right people and our technology making potent use of Connected TV that enables us to stretch station budgets. Email me at leigh@nuvoodoo.com for a quick response.
If you’re worried about where you ended up in the spring book, NuVoodoo has library tests and tactical perceptual studies starting at $9500. An email to me at leigh@nuvoodoo.com will get you a quick response.
