US study: NFL's radio audience beats TV on engagement

Westwood One research finds AM/FM listeners rate their NFL passion higher than video viewers, and 39% mute the television to hear the radio call.

Advertisers buying only television this American football season are leaving something on the table, according to research analysed by the Cumulus Media/Westwood One Audio Active Group. It draws on a Westwood One-commissioned Quantilope survey of 750 adults fielded in February, a companion study in June 2026, and 2026 Winter MRI-Simmons USA data.

Radio listeners rated their passion for the 2025 NFL season at 8.5 out of 10, against 7.9 among video viewers. Sixty percent of the audio audience rated their engagement a nine or ten, compared with 46% of the video audience — and 39% of Westwood One listeners said they have muted the television to hear the radio commentary instead.

Receptive, and worth more per listener

The advertising numbers are the sharper end of the study. AM/FM listeners were 92% more likely than TV viewers to be 'super influential' consumers across categories including automotive, coffee and finance. Twenty-seven percent said radio advertising gives them useful information about deals, against 8% of TV viewers who said the same of television ads.

Sports betting tracked closely with audio: AM/FM listeners to Sunday, Monday and Thursday night games indexed at 360 against a population average of 100, where TV viewers of the same games indexed at 213.

The audience is also less over-the-air than the label suggests. Streaming and satellite tune-in outpaced traditional AM/FM listening three to one, and 59% of all NFL fans heard some portion of radio broadcast audio during the 2025 season — across AM/FM, the NFL app, SiriusXM, smart speakers and Westwood One's own app.

Why sellers should care

Studies like this are commissioned by the medium they flatter, and the numbers should be read with that in mind. But the structural point stands on its own: audio reaches the same event through five distribution paths at once, and an audience that is measurably more inclined to act on what it hears.

Selling that requires packaging it as one product rather than five line items — which is a systems problem long before it is a sales problem.

Source: Radio Ink.