Click here to view a 10-minute video of the key takeaways.

Click here to download the NFL listening study for advertisers.

Click here to download NFL listening study for station affiliates.

Adam Shifrin is Vice President, Sports Sales & Marketing | Westwood One

New studies from Quantilope and MRI-Simmons reveal that the NFL on Westwood One generates mass reach of highly engaged upscale consumers who are closest to the point of purchase. These new insights and findings are contained in Westwood One’s 2026 NFL Listening Report.

For the 40th consecutive season, Westwood One is proud to be the exclusive network audio partner of the NFL. Westwood One will broadcast every 2026 Primetime Regular Season game, as well as the playoffs and Super Bowl LXI from Los Angeles. Across an entire season, Nielsen reveals the NFL on Westwood One reaches a staggering 64 million unique fans.

Key findings from the 2026 Westwood One NFL Listening Report:

• More engaged: The sports listener is more passionate, giving audio commercials greater impact
• Mass reach: Buy deep in a game and long in the season to capture the massive 64 million reach
• Closest to the point of purchase: Reach busy on-the-go people whose “best available screen” is their in-car AM/FM radio
• Desirable consumers: Reach a young, employed, and upscale audience with greater spending power
• Makes your TV better: The NFL on Westwood One is an effective way to amplify reach and frequency of an NFL TV campaign

The NFL on AM/FM radio is a reach machine: Each week, new listeners tune in

NFL AM/FM radio broadcasts fit into the busy lives of Americans. Some have to go to the mall to pick up their children. Others are running errands or returning from a trip to visit relatives. In Mountain and Pacific time zones, prime time games air during the drive home from work.

The NFL on Westwood One is a massive reach machine, adding new and different listeners each and every week. In the first week of the season, 8 million unique consumers tune in. Over the course of September, the unique audience expands to 21 million.

Over the entire regular season, Westwood One’s NFL play-by-play reaches 53.5 million different Americans. What happens in the postseason? Westwood One’s NFL coverage adds an additional 10 million listeners who were not reached during the regular season, lifting the season-long reach to 64 million.

How to capitalize on Westwood One’s massive NFL audience? Buy long in the season and deep in the game

With new, unique audiences tuning each week, the best way to optimize for reach is run a campaign of at least 16 weeks. Marketers can capture 75% of the total Westwood One NFL reach opportunity with a campaign running at least 16 weeks.

To optimize game day reach, the ideal media plan runs at least five ads per game. The optimal point on the game reach curve is five to seven ads per game.

The NFL audio play-by-play audience is more passionate and engaged than the TV audience

Across every measure of sports engagement, 2026 MRI-Simmons data reveals the Westwood One NFL audience is far more passionate than the NFL TV audience. Advertising on Westwood One’s NFL broadcasts generates more impact as the audience is more attentive and much more engaged with sports.

The TV and AM/FM radio NFL broadcasts have very different audience profiles. The TV audience consists of casual sports fans.

Westwood One’s AM/FM radio NFL play-by-play audience is far more engaged with and passionate about the NFL and sports. This distinction has a significant impact on advertising effectiveness.

MRI-Simmons examines five dimensions of sports engagement:

• Attend sports events
• Seek sports information on a phone
• Friends/family ask my advice on sports
• Considered a sports category influential consumer
• Play fantasy sports

On each measure, the 2026 MRI-Simmons study reports the AM/FM radio NFL play-by-play audience is more engaged with and passionate about sports than those who watch the NFL on TV.

While the Westwood NFL audience is more engaged, they are much more likely to indicate they are “completely passionate” (60%) about the recent 2025 season than the video audience (46%), according to Quantilope.

Nielsen: The Westwood One NFL audience skews upscale with larger households with children

Nielsen’s analysis of Westwood One’s NFL audience was conducted using the 80,000-person Portable People Meter panel. Nielsen’s analysis reveals Westwood One’s NFL audience skews upper income, employed, with larger households and are more likely to have kids.

Greater AI usage: Compared to the average NFL fan, the Westwood One NFL audience is +79% more likely to use AI at work

Marketers seeking to reach consumers and business decision makers engaged with AI should look no further than the NFL on Westwood One. According to a 2026 Quantilope study, Westwood One’s NFL audience is 42% likely than average NFL fans to use AI for personal purposes. Westwood One listeners are +38% more likely to be familiar with AI and +79% more likely to use AI daily at work.

Sports betting is more prevalent among AM/FM radio sports listeners versus the TV sports audience

Another key measure of passion and engagement is online sports betting. AM/FM radio listeners are more likely to be sports bettors, according to the 2026 MRI-Simmons study.

Listeners to Westwood One’s Sunday, Monday, and Thursday NFL prime time broadcasts are 260% more likely to be sports bettors compared to the U.S. average. TV viewers to the same NFL prime time broadcasts are only 113% more likely than the U.S. average.

How they listen: While watching the TV broadcast, 39% of Westwood One NFL listeners have muted the TV to play the AM/FM radio call, 2X the average NFL fan

Kevin Harlan, legendary Westwood One NFL announcer, explains that the radio broadcast is far more descriptive as the announcer is the fan’s “eyes and ears.” On the TV broadcast, Harlan notes the color commentator is given more airtime to provide analysis.

Across a diverse array of platforms, Westwood’s NFL audio reaches six out of ten fans during the 2025 season

Westwood One’s NFL play-by-play coverage is simulcast along with all the commercials across SiriusXM, the NFL app, Westwood One Sports’ app along with 500 AM/FM radio stations across the U.S. Combined, these platforms reach 59% of the 2025 season audience.

The NFL on Westwood One: The best available screen in the car

Nielsen’s Portable People Meter analysis reveals 86% of the Westwood One NFL audience is reached away from home at some point during their exposure to the audio broadcasts.

Adding Westwood One’s NFL audio platform to an NFL video plan generates 32% incremental reach

The 2026 Quantilope study found 24% of the 2025 NFL season audience only listened to audio play-by-play broadcasts and not the TV broadcast. The 24% unique reach represents a 32% increase in the NFL TV audiences.

21% both watch and listen to the NFL, providing amplified frequency to brands that advertised across both platforms.

Key findings from the 2026 Westwood One NFL Listening Report:

• More engaged: The sports listener is more passionate, giving audio commercials greater impact
• Mass reach: Buy deep in a game and long in the season to capture the massive 64 million reach
• Closest to the point of purchase: Reach busy on-the-go people whose “best available screen” is their in-car AM/FM radio
• Desirable consumers: Reach a young, employed, and upscale audience with greater spending power
• Makes your TV better: The NFL on Westwood One is an effective way to amplify reach and frequency of an NFL TV campaign

Click here to view a 10-minute video of the key takeaways.

View or download the 2026 NFL Listening Report for advertisers:

View or download the 2026 NFL Listening Report for affiliates:

Adam Shifrin is Vice President, Sports Sales & Marketing | Westwood One.

Contact the Insights team at CorpMarketing@westwoodone.com.