Arbitron released findings from a sports study that profiles how adults age 18 and older in Boston and New York listened to and watched the Super Bowl on radio and television.
It concluded that two-thirds of Bostonians and 51 percent of New Yorkers followed the media coverage of the Super Bowl in the week leading up to the game.
Arbitron conducted a telephone study on Feb. 4 asking follow-up questions about the Super Bowl. The calls were placed in the New York and Boston Arbitron-defined metro areas. In New York there were 200 completed surveys, and in Boston there were 201 completed surveys.
The study says radio benefits from the run up to the big game. Half of the adults in Boston and 29 percent of New Yorkers said they listened to sports/talk radio in the week before the Super Bowl. Time spent listening was up the week prior with a third of New York adults and more than half (56 percent) of Boston adults listening “a lot more.”
Additionally, people are less likely to switch radio stations while listening to the game: 52 percent of New Yorkers and Bostonians were less likely to switch stations while listening to the Super Bowl than they are when they are listening to something else.
Arbitron said radio reaped its greatest benefit from the pre-game and post-game coverage of the Super Bowl. Most Super Bowl listening was done out of home: 49 percent of Bostonians and 45 percent of New Yorkers who listened to the radio on the day of the game listened in a car or truck. Nine percent of Boston adults and eight percent of New York adults listened to pre-game, game or post-game coverage on the radio.
