DAVID FOLKENFLIK GETS IT PARTIALLY RIGHT IN HIS STORY ABOUT NPR’S “RATINGS COLLAPSE”

David Folkenflik

If you haven’t read or heard David Folkenflik’s article about the collapse in ratings for NPR’s signature programs, you should check it out [link],

Folkenflik posted it late Wednesday (7-15) after a staff meeting at NPR that presented new information about audience changes since the on-set of the Covid pandemic.

Folkenflik is NPR’s media correspondent and the co-host and editor of the daily news program On Point. 

In his article – NPR’s Radio Ratings Collapse As Pandemic Ends Listeners' Commutes – he reveals new information about NPR’s investment in content for digital platforms.

For instance, have you heard that, according NPR CEO John Lansing, NPR is on track to make more money from underwriting and commercials in podcasts than the money paid by conventional stations for NPR programs such as Morning Edition, All Things Considered and Wait, Wait.

It is a ‘sea change” in public broadcasting because the system was built by station carriage fees that provide much of the funding for NPR. More then half of the people on NPR’s Board of Directors operate “conventional stations.”  In other words, this is the “new normal’ clashing with the old systems that were designed decades ago.

Folkenflik quotes NPR CEO John Lansing saying the ratings declines are not a reflection of NPR’s content:

"The first thing that I see is a situation driven by habits of consumers that are not related to the content of our programs. It's almost entirely related to the disruption caused by the pandemic to commuting patterns both in the morning and the evenings. [Most] of us, including me, are working from home."

During the staff meeting earlier this week, NPR’s Senior Director of Audience Insights, Lori Kaplan said that the changes reflect trends that were already happening.

The difference now in the Covid era have sped things up:

"We anticipated these changes. This kind of change was going to take place over the next decade. But the pandemic has shown us what our future is now. We're not going back to the same levels of listening that we've experienced in the past on broadcast."

Kaplan quoted newly commissioned research, based Nielsen PPM ratings, that NPR’s signature program have fallen 25% compared to a similar time in 2019.

PUTTING “THE COLLAPSE” IN PERSPECTIVE

Kaplan’s data identifies the same trends that we wrote about earlier this week. There is no doubt that estimated weekly listeners have fallen since the on-set of the pandemic.

On the right is our chart showing the declines in weekly listeners between February and June for 15 influential NPR News/Talk stations. The estimated weekly listeners dropped for all 15 stations. Overall, the weekly listeners for the 15 stations were down 19.8%.

But is this change a collapse? We don’t think so.

There are still are lots of people listening to NPR on NPR member stations. Compared to public radio’s Classical music stations, News stations are doing better at keeping their cume in the Covid era.

So, is the glass half empty or half full?

Folkenflik’s use of the word “collapse” is unfortunate and too simplistic. His article is now being quoted by various news sources as proof that NPR is on the rocks.