Radio's Audience Continues to Grow

COLUMBIA, Md., Dec. 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB) announced today highlights from its December 2011 RADAR® 111 National Radio Listening Report.  The report shows radio  added 1.4 million more weekly listeners versus December 2010.  The number of persons twelve and older listening to radio each week now reaches an estimated 241.3 million, representing 93 percent of the population twelve and older.

In addition to adding 1.4 million weekly listeners during the past year, radio listening among key demographics continues to hold steady.  Compared to the December 2010 RADAR report, teens aged 12 to 17 remains consistent at 22.8 million, or 92% of that demographic's population.  Radio listeners aged 18 to 34 increased slightly versus the December 2010 RADAR report.  Radio now reaches 66.3 million weekly listeners in this age range, that's 93.4% of this demographic. 

Radio's Diversity

Radio's diverse listener base continues to grow, with the number of weekly listeners increasing among Black (non-Hispanic) and Hispanic Adults aged 12 and older. 

• The December 2011 RADAR report shows a significant increase in Hispanic listeners.  Radio's Hispanic audience aged 12 and older grew by nearly 1 million versus the December 2010 report.  Radio reaches 95% of Hispanics aged 12 and older. 
• Hispanic Adults aged 18 to 34 increased the most over the past year, adding nearly 300,000 weekly listeners.  
• Black (non-Hispanic) listeners also grew year over year, gaining nearly 240,000 weekly listeners.  Radio reaches 93.2% of the Black (non-Hispanic) population. 

Radio Delivers Affluent, Educated Adults

The December 2011 RADAR report demonstrates radio's ability to attract an affluent, educated audience.  Radio reaches more than 132 million weekly radio listeners aged 12 and older with a household income of $75K or more.  Additionally, 40.8 million adults aged 18 to 49 who are college graduates tune into radio on a weekly basis. Twenty-six million Adults aged 25 to 54 with both a college degree and a household income of more than $75K tune into radio on a weekly basis.

About December 2011 RADAR

Arbitron's RADAR (Radio's All Dimension Audience Research) December 2011 is the standard currency for national network radio ratings and measures 55 individual radio networks. These networks are operated by American Urban Radio Networks, Crystal Media Networks, Cumulus Media Networks, Dial Global Inc., Premiere Radio Networks and United Stations Radio Networks.

The sample size for the RADAR December 2011 Report is 395,502 persons aged 12 and older. This large sample is designed to provide more stability for key demographic estimates, dayparts and Market-by-Market Analysis reports, which report all individual DMAs®.

The RADAR December 2011 Report includes data from all 48 Arbitron PPM™ markets. The survey dates for RADAR 111 were from September 16, 2010 to September 14, 2011.

About Arbitron Inc.

Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB) is an international media and marketing research firm serving the media–radio, television, cable and out-of-home; the mobile industry as well as advertising agencies and advertisers around the world. Arbitron's businesses include: measuring network and local market radio audiences across the United States; surveying the retail, media and product patterns of U.S. consumers; providing mobile audience measurement and analytics in the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia, and developing application software used for analyzing media audience and marketing information data.

The Company has developed the Portable People Meter ™ (PPM™) and the PPM 360™, new technologies for media and marketing research.

Portable People Meter™, PPM™ and PPM 360™ are marks of Arbitron Inc.

RADAR® is a registered trademark of Arbitron Inc. DMA® is a registered service mark of Nielsen Media Research Inc., and is used pursuant to a license from Nielsen Media Research, Inc.

PPM ratings are based on audience estimates and are the opinion of Arbitron and should not be relied on for precise accuracy or precise representativeness of a demographic or radio market.

SOURCE Arbitron Inc.