Young people are still tuning in to the radio, according to data released today by Nielsen's new radio ratings service. The service, which measures radio listening habits in 51 small and mid-level markets found that 18-34 year olds in these markets  listen to the radio 21.5 hours each week, which is on par with listening by all people 12 and older in those 51 markets.

Nielsen’s sample represents 98% of the population in the 51 markets thanks to its address-based sampling (ABS), which uses randomly selected home addresses rather than telephone numbers. As a result, ABS targets cell-phone only (CPO) homes and landline homes with unlisted numbers. This CPO group, which has previously been left out of all other U.S. radio audience measurements, skews toward younger, tech-savvy consumers and accounts for 15% of households in the sample.

Other radio insights within the 51 markets measured by Nielsen include:

• The 12+ listener on average tunes to 2.5 stations each week. CPO listeners 12+ listen to 2.8 stations per week
• Persons 12+ have a total Average Quarter Hour (AQH) rating of 15.7 and listen for 21 hours and 57 minutes per week
• African-Americans and Hispanics in the 51 markets tune in more than the average population at 26.5 hours and 25 hours per week respectively. These growing demographics also have higher quarter hour ratings (18.9% and 18.2%) than the average population.
• Radio listeners age 18- 34, which account for 27% of the measured population, have a total AQH rating of 15.6%, which is in line with the entire market.

Download the full press release announcing new ratings and insights.