During the average commercial break, radio holds more than 92% of its lead-in audience.

A study from Arbitron, Media Monitors and Coleman dispels the industry perception that radio listeners tune away from commercials in large numbers.  The study conducted in Houston, Texas analyzed 93,876 radio commercial breaks. The study compared the audience level for each minute of a commercial break to the audience level for the minute before the commercials began.

“This study shows that the long-held perception that listeners tune away from commercials in large numbers is simply not true. Radio does a remarkable job of holding audience through commercial breaks,” said Bill Rose, senior vice president, Marketing, Arbitron, Inc.

“For years, people in the industry have assumed that many listeners change stations or turn off the radio when the ads come on,” said Jon Coleman, president, Coleman, a media research firm. “These findings indicate that audience loss due to commercials may not deserve the hyper-focus it has received from radio programmers.”