The National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) and the Barna group recently released a study showing that 60% of Americans view Christian media in some way, with half viewing it at least once a week.
According to the study, titled “The State Christian Media,” this content is being consumed from TV, radio, podcasts, news websites, social media, or YouTube.
Troy Miller, CEO and president of NRB, spoke with Jenna Ellis on Jenna Ellis in the Morning about the results of the study and the widespread impact of Christian media.
Miller says they were shocked to find that 60% of the general American population, not just Christians, tuned into some form of Christian media.
“That number is huge. I think you can almost not find any other genre out there that has that much support across this country,” Miller says. “That is really incredible and encouraging as well to know that it's not just Christians that we're reaching, to deepen our faith that is already there, but we're also reaching those who perhaps haven't yet claimed Jesus as their Lord and Savior.”
The study also reported that the main audience consumer Christian media was Gen Zers (ages 13-28) by 64%, with Millennials (29-44) not far behind. This is the opposite of what people would think, Miller said.
Younger listeners tuning in
“I think most people would have thought stereotypically that Christian media was consumed by older generations, baby boomers, Gen Xers, but it’s not. Those were the top two demographics, age demographics, that are consuming this media,” Miller says.
Because of this, Miller points out that it is important for the workers in Christian media to be multi-generational, especially since it seems that these generations are rejecting the cultural message in secular media.
“The No. 1 reason that people were tuning into Christian media was to find hope and encouragement. And it tells you that the secular marketplace is full of so much despair, so much division, so much negativity, that these generations are looking for hope. They're looking for purpose in their lives,” states Miller.
A study by Mastermind Behavior shows that Gen Z spends almost nine hours daily on their phones.
However, critics question whether Christians should engage in social media platforms such as X and TikTok.
“Our call is to go to shine light in the darkness. And so, if we just give up these platforms, these new emerging platforms to that darkness, then where are these young people going to find that hope?” Miller responds.
He recalls a story he heard about a young man starting a Bible study with the people he plays multi-player video games with.
“So, on one of these X-Boxes, that grew to a Bible study now that was over 200 people from around the world tuned in before they play their games. And they're hearing the word of God. That's what it means to shine light in the darkness, and we need to do that in every medium possible,” Miller says.
The Barna study also reported that two-thirds of the population views Christian media as trustworthy and valuable, even though it is through a biased lens.
The impact of Christian media
Miller points out the role of Christian media has become two-fold: discipling Christians and bringing hope to those in need.
“The fact that the culture at large – we go back to that 60% of Americans – tunes into some form of Christian media, knowing that Christian media is biased – I mean, we don't hide it like the mainstream media tries to hide their bias. It's out there on our sleeves – yet people are still tuning in because, again, they're looking for that hope,” Miller informs.
He adds that the second highest reason people tune into Christian media is to understand the Bible better, know God better, love Him better, and love people better.
Recently, there has been legislation in Congress that benefits Christian media and help further its reach.
The House of Representative passed a bill that will take $1.1 billion of federal funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. According to Associated Press, the White House admitted that the public media system is biased politically and an unneeded expense.
Miller says the government should not spend tax dollars on funding the propaganda and woke message of the left progressives.
“Christian media, which fall under the same regulations of public interest programming, have just never been on an equal footing with PBS, with all of the government support they have, it's not just in the funds, but as well as legislation. So, we applaud Congress for doing this,” explains Miller.
Also, the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act of 2025 is being debated in Congress. In recent years, several automobile makers have removed the AM radio feature from their cars, sparking public outcry. The bill requires a rule to be issued by the secretary of transportation, requiring all manufactured and imported vehicles to include AM radio capabilities.
This is critical in allowing continued access to free, public, over-the-air content for people to make their own choices, Miller says.
“AM radio is a key one, because that's so important. We believe that people should have free access to the information they want to hear, to the kind of programming they want to hear. We don't believe that there should be any gatekeepers, whether it's digitally on the internet, or whether it's the airwaves in the car,” Miller states.
According to Inside Radio, over 80 million people depend on AM radio.
Miller believes that local content from AM radio stations helps to serve the public interest more than the big, large networks that fail to meet people’s needs. He also credits AM radio with providing most of the local content across the country: local weather, local traffic, local news, community bulletin boards.
“And often, especially Christian AM radio stations, they're the first to be communicating in natural disasters. So, floods or hurricanes or fires, people tune into their radios to find out because cell service, Internet service is often the first thing that goes. We really think that localization is very important to this country,” Miller says.
Miller hopes to see the AM bill passed when Congress returns after their recess in August.
Bright future, work to be done
Overall, Miller believes there’s a bright future for Christian media.
“I see a lot of Christian ministries that are doing some great innovation. I see some young people in the Gen Zers who are doing some neat things on these social media platforms out there. And look, the numbers tell us that this is growing, and we have a mission, and we have a purpose,” Miller states.
However, Miller comments that there is work to be done as there is still opposition to the message.
“Corporate America now is our big target because that's where we're seeing most of the opposition. So, we're working hard. We're going to get this study out to all of the C-suites in the Fortune 500 companies so they can understand how large this audience is,” concludes Miller.
