August 19, 2020

ONE OF OUR GREATEST INSTITUTIONS:

Radio listening has plummeted. NPR is reaching a bigger audience than ever. What gives? (Sarah Scire, Aug. 19, 2020, Nieman Lab)

Even as its legacy platform's audience has declined, though, NPR says it is reaching more people than ever. The dip in radio listenership -- 22 percent -- has coincided with a record number of people turning to NPR on virtually every other platform. More people than ever are reaching NPR through the website, apps, livestreams, and smart speakers ("Alexa, I want to listen to NPR").

In total, 57 million listen or watch or read NPR content each week, up 10 percent from this time last year. Comparing spring 2019 to spring 2020, here's where NPR saw its numbers move:

Unique weekly visitors to NPR.org increased 94 percent
Smart speaker streams and on-demand audio increased 29 percent
Live stream listeners increased 39 percent
NPR app usage grew 22 percent
NPR One app usage increased 19 percent
NPR Music, through YouTube, saw its traffic increase by 90 percent

These changes have implications for NPR's bottom line, which draws on a mix of underwriting, member station fees, government funds, and donations. In 2020, for the first time, NPR will make more money from underwriting on podcasts than from its radio shows.

But, for its own sake, NPR should seek to liberate itself from any dependence on government funding at all.

Posted by at August 19, 2020 1:21 PM

  

« THUS THE THIRD WAY: | Main | NO ONE HATES JUST MEXICANS: »