Audience research firm Nielsen has some probably not surprising data in its just released winter 2018 Nielsen Audio survey — in times of impending disaster people turn to news radio formats. And in the immediate aftermath the numbers remain high.
This was confirmed by listener numbers from most recently Puerto Rico (Hurricane Maria), along with earlier numbers from Texas (Hurricane Harvey), along with Florida (Hurricane Irma).
[Read: Survey Says Adult Contemporary, Classic Hits Formats on the Rise]
Due to destruction in Puerto Rico Nielsen was unable to properly survey the island in the immediate aftermath of the hurricane. However, once some stability returned, Nielsen then collected numbers and discovered a significant rise in listenership for news radio format stations, compared to previous surveys.
A similar pattern was seen in Texas and Florida. Both of those provide PPM markets, in comparison to diary usage in Puerto Rico.
