Who Is Watching Joel?
Thursday, February 26, 2015 at 02:55PM 
Who is watching Joel Osteen? Not I! But he does amaze me. How can he preach on the exact same topic every Sunday--"God wants me to be better"--and, yet make it seem different?
When it comes to Christian media, and who accesses it, the numbers are revealing. Who Is Watching TV or Listening to Christian Radio?
Only 8% of Americans admit to watching Christian television regularly--I'll bet the demographics here are interesting. Probably older women with blue hair, who live below the Mason-Dixon line, and east of Mississippi.
24% watch Christian TV "sometimes," 27% "rarely," and 40% "never."
Christian radio fares a tad worse. 10% listen "regularly," 17% "sometimes," 19% "rarely," 52% "never."
Podcast numbers are low (the media is new). 4% "regularly," 10% "sometimes," 11% "rarely," 72% "never."
The numbers also show that
- 67 percent of Americans never or rarely watch Christian-based programming on television. Those who do watch at least sometimes are overwhelmingly self-identified evangelicals (69 percent) and weekly churchgoers (62 percent).
- 71 percent never or rarely listen to Christian radio. Those who do are similar to the Christian TV crowd — 67 percent are evangelicals and 57 percent are weekly churchgoers.
- 84 percent of Americans never or rarely listen to Christian-themed podcasts. Books and movies fared slightly better: 33 percent said they at least sometimes read Christian-based books. And 40 percent report seeing a Christian movie in the last year.
Reader Comments (2)
That was an odd stereotype about women with blue hair. I live in the deep south and I don't think I've ever seen blue hair, except during Mardi Gras for dressing up!