Fall 2005 Radio National Format Averages.

The Katz Media Group has recently concluded the Fall 2005 National Format Averages and Share Trends report.

The latest Katz Media Group Radio National format Averages report for all Fall 2005 markets shows continued gains for Classic Hits and Spanish-language stations, as well as significant shifts in Urban, Rhythmic and Rock-based formats.

More and More Stations are Targeting Hispanics

The Hispanic format was one of the biggest winners this Fall, up 6% on a like-to-like basis since last year. In fact, current average market shares for the format are at one of the highest levels ever-ranking it #2 behind Country for the first time. Further evidence of the format’s popularity is the emergence of new niches such at Reggaeton and Hurban over the past nine to twelve months. The number of stations added to the format (37) over the past year has significantly outpaced the rate of markets being added (8), indicating that more stations are now targeting Hispanics within the average market.

Urban and Rhythmic Formats Remain Popular

The Urban and Rhythmic formats see some mixed results from an average market share perspective. Rhythmic CHR declines slightly this Fall, but overall, shares have been at consistently high levels over the past few years. For the first time in several years, Urban A/C sees some share declines this Fall. On the positive side, Urban Contemporary increases a bit this Fall after several years of eroding shares and the Urban Inspirational format, while still new to our analysis, sees some significant gains in this report. The popularity of the Urban market remains high as evidenced by the 26 stations that were added among the four format niches in the past year.

Additional highlights of this Fall’s report include:

” The Country format has shown continued increases, up now for the fourth consecutive year. The overall popularity of the Country format remains strong as it has led the way as the number one format for more than a decade. This Fall, Country enjoys a 58% share advantage over the next closest competitor among Persons 12+ in the average market.
” Interestingly, while the Adult Contemporary and Soft A/C formats remain fairly consistent year to year, seasonal differences are evident when comparing shares to previous Spring reports. Fall shares are noticeably higher than Spring shares. This could be the influence of the overwhelming number of stations in these formats that program Christmas music at the end of the Fall survey period.
The Katz Media Group analyzed 4,311 radio stations and more than fifty formats in 298 Arbitron markets to produce the figures for this study. It should be noted that ratings for New Orleans were not published in Fall ’05, so results for this market were not tallied. Thirty-four format classifications-some separately for AM and FM stations-are examined in detail. Each analysis includes:
” The raw number of stations across all markets, shown for each year.
” 12+ AQH composition by age cell, trended for past Fall Arbitron reports. Many formats include ten to fifteen years worth of data, allowing us to examine long-term changes in audience skew.
” Average weekly listening times, tracked for Men and Women of the target demo as well as specific age cells.
” The recycling of cume audience between Monday-Friday time periods, showing the extent to which specific formats circulate their listeners throughout the broadcast day.
” Graphs for age cell composition, weekly listening times, average market format share and median age trends.

To view data CLICK below:

http://www.katz-media.com/geninfo/releases/nfa022106/NFAfa05-1_files/frame.htm