If weekends aren’t playing a significant role in your radio advertising campaigns, you are missing a tremendous opportunity to reach your target consumers as they prepare to make purchasing decisions. There’s no better time than on the weekend to reach New Yorkers who are doing their grocery shopping, eating at restaurants, deciding what to do and where to go with their families, working on home improvements, and so many other weekend activities that result in a purchase or expenditure.

In the New York metropolitan area, weekend listening levels to radio rival or exceed listening during radio’s biggest weekday hours.

All audience data in this article are based on Arbitron PPM, New York Metro, October 2010 through September 2011 (13-survey average).

The Weekend Attracts a Higher Percentage of a Station’s Audience than the Major Weekday Dayparts

For New Yorkers, the radio is on as they go about their weekend activities. As a matter of fact, on average, a higher percentage of a station’s cume tunes in on the weekend (Saturday-Sunday 6A-Mid) than during any of the major weekday dayparts!

Daypart	% of Total Week Cume That Listens in These Dayparts (average of all home to metro stations)
Saturday-Sunday 6A-Mid	45.0%
Monday-Friday 10A-3P	41.5%
Monday-Friday 3P-7P	41.1%
Monday-Friday 6A-10A	33.2%
Monday-Friday 7P-Mid	25.3%

Data © Arbitron Inc., New York PPM,
October 2010 through September 2011 (13-survey average)

New York Radio’s Biggest Hour of the Week Isn’t on a Weekday

Weekday radio listening is consistently high, and radio maintains its large audiences throughout the day. Yet it is the Noon to 1P hour on Saturday that is New York radio’s most listened-to hour of the entire week. New York radio in this hour has an AQH audience of 2.1 million listeners 6+. Other hours come close, but Saturday Noon to 1P reigns supreme as the most listened-to hour of radio during the entire week.

Data © Arbitron Inc., New York PPM, October 2010 through September 2011 (13-survey average)

The 11A and 1P hours on Saturday are also comparable to most weekday hours in terms of average quarter-hour listening. On Sunday, listening peaks during the 1P hour, again with listening levels on par with weekdays.

In terms of dayparts, look at the strength of Saturday middays as compared to other major dayparts.

Daypart	AQH Persons
Saturday 10A-3P	2,006,100
Monday-Friday 10A-3P	1,963,100
Monday-Friday 3P-7P	1,878,700
Monday-Friday 6A-10A	1,772,100
Saturday 3P-7P	1,728,300
Sunday 10A-3P	1,694,400
Sunday 3P-7P	1,496,100

Data © Arbitron Inc., New York PPM,
October 2010 through September 2011 (13-survey average)

As people run errands that they could not get to during the week, radio is a constant companion. And for an advertiser, weekends are truly a prime time.

Some other facts about the weekends:

• 81.5% of all weekday radio listeners in New York come back to radio on the weekends. Boding especially well for advertisers, weekend listeners tune to the stations of their choice…the stations they are most passionate about…not the station that the entire office is listening to.
• More than half (52.3%) of the total listening to radio on the weekends occurs away from home. Imagine how much of that listening is from consumers who are ready to open their wallets and make a purchasing decision.
• Among all New York Persons 6+, more than three quarters (76.7%) are reached by radio on the weekends. By race, Hispanics cume radio on the weekends at the highest rate (79.4%).
• Radio reaches 84.1% of all New York Adults 45-54 on the weekends, more than any other adult demo cell. 86.8% of Men 45-54 listen on the weekends, and 81.4% of Women 45-54.

If you are an agency or advertiser, are you taking advantage of this significant, ready-to-purchase radio audience on the weekends? Stations, are your rates for weekend inventory commensurate with the audience that you are delivering to your advertisers? Weekend radio in New York delivers results for advertisers. Be sure that your campaigns and your pricing are taking maximum advantage of the power of New York weekend radio.