News/Talk and Spanish formats continue to grow, according to Interep’s analysis of the recent Fall 2004 Arbitron survey.
“A closely fought presidential race helped News/Talk grow continuously throughout 2004, with the format reaching an all-time high in the Fall survey,” it stated. “After peaking during the Winter, shares for the Spanish formats also reached a new high during the Summer; and, then rose even further in the latest Fall report.”
Following a period of erosion, both AC and Soft AC were up half a point in the Fall, perhaps helped by Christmas music; listening totals for the broad category are nearly back to the levels of a year ago.
The only formats to gain more than a tenth of a share were AC, News/Talk and Spanish.
Other findings:
– “While its shares are off a bit from their Summer peak, Urban is the third most-listened-to format category, followed closely by CHR. On a year-to-year basis, Mainstream CHR is flat, while the Dance segment has declined by half a share point.”
– “Rock formats generally did not produce headlines in Fall 2004, with Classic Rock, AOR/Rock and New Rock each slightly down in the latest survey. There was similar slippage for Oldies, which had been virtually unchanged for the past year. Hot AC continued its up and down pattern, giving back a couple of tenths in the Fall report. Country also fell back a bit; though, the format remained stable compared to its levels of a year ago.”