Program Proves Over 300,000 Simultaneous Viewers Through Streaming Alone and Reveals the Obvious Formula for Radio

We are not talking about 300 connected IPs, nor about an impressive 3,000 viewers. We are saying that, every day, there is a program that, on the internet alone, gathers more than 300,000 people watching live, which, over the course of one edition, adds up to more than 1.5 million different viewers/day who decided to follow the program.

The formula is absolutely obvious in Brazil, and it certainly works very well in most Western countries: it is called football (soccer). And this audience does not even come from a decisive match broadcast, but from an ordinary day of sports commentary. Sports-related, but restricted to football: conversations about games, transfers, controversies, expectations, and speculations.

The program Jogo Aberto, on YouTube, reached 311,790 simultaneous viewers at the moment I took the screenshot. There was a time when streaming audiences were just a fraction of those on radio or TV, until measurement methods regained credibility. Today, nothing surpasses, in terms of legitimacy, the visible counter in the corner of live broadcasts. And I am not talking only about TV: here in Natal, everyone knows which programs are most popular by the numbers they achieve on YouTube. This program is originally produced by Rede Bandeirantes, and obviously, its broadcast on television is a major driver of its massive brand. For convenience, many of its regular viewers prefer to watch it on their cell phones or laptops. It is one of the largest television networks in Brazil, a product that every football fan in the country recognizes and follows. There is no denying it: it is truly an extraordinary phenomenon.

But I also want to highlight a phenomenon that happens across Brazil: an explosion of radio audiences between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m., with the program Experiência de Deus, by Father Reginaldo Manzzotti. Thousands of stations relay the signal without necessarily being part of the program’s original network — and this is their own choice, precisely because of the reach it provides. Here in Natal, the phenomenon is easy to perceive: for a period, 98 FM transmitted only the audio via YouTube, and the responses on streaming were notably huge, while thousands followed directly on YouTube as well. No other local religious program came close to those figures. Another example is Meio Dia RN with BG, which also established itself with thousands of viewers and recognized leadership. YouTube is incorruptible: it exposes the real audience of those who broadcast live and mercilessly reveals the weight of each program.

Ingredients More Powerful Than Music on the Radio

• Football (soccer): historically associated with AM radio, today it is the goldmine of audience for Brazil’s major broadcasters. No significant station discards it; all depend on it vitally.

• Religiosity: it is not the stations that only play gospel music that lead, but those with long daily hours of oratory from priests, pastors, and spiritual leaders. The public listens to them as if they were receiving wise advice or psychological comfort, and naturally, the numbers are very high.

• News: Opinionated journalism, pro-market, advocating tax cuts and a smaller state, achieves larger audiences than the dominant journalistic model (more statist and interventionist). This explains why Mitre AM 790, in Buenos Aires, surpasses even FM stations, and why Fox News has much higher numbers than its competitors, which often appear aligned with each other and opposed to Fox. Here in Natal, Meio Dia RN with BG also follows this line and surpasses rivals that try to maintain ideological balance.

The explanation is clear: traditional Brazilian journalistic training, often anti-market, weighs against capturing audiences. In Brazil, we end up seeing a serious loss of audience precisely in one of the sectors that should be a driver of radio’s popularity, alongside football and religiosity.

Journalism With Audience and Journalism Without Audience

It is almost frightening how simple it is to notice that the audience is mostly male and pro-market. So much so that, when a program format takes this line, it manages to stand out in audience numbers with little effort. Even in a very local context, such as here in Natal, we have the program Meio Dia RN with BG, hosted by Bruno Giovanni, openly right-wing and pro-market, which resonates more strongly with listeners who think in a methodical, mathematical, and financially aware way.

For this audience, journalists influenced by Keynesianism, associated with chavismo and peronism, are the last ones to deserve credibility. For them, this type of editorial line represents everything they reject. It is harsh, but it is true.

Bots?

The audience numbers of the program “Jogo Aberto” come from YouTube daily live streams. There is a well-known adult contemporary radio station that does use bots, yes, but that is not the case with the program mentioned in the article. In fact, anywhere in Brazil, the cited program is widely known and discussed on a daily basis.

It is a program that is talked about daily even in small towns, and it is quite natural to see boys watching it on their cell phones at bus stops, before or after classes. I witness this even here, 3,000 kilometers away from the program’s studio. They truly rely on people from every corner of the country to reach such numbers during their broadcasts.

A famous broadcaster here in Brazil, it does use bots as you mentioned they use them to boost numbers on Shoutcast, but they weren’t able to do so on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/@JogoAberto

YouTube: The New Audience Barometer

For decades, in radio and television, audience measurement was in the hands of research institutes. They created their own methodologies, based on population samples, questionnaires, or monitoring devices installed in a few households. Although accepted as the market standard, there was always a margin of doubt: did the sample truly represent reality? Was there room for manipulation or distortion?

With the rise of streaming, and especially with YouTube, a real-time, transparent, and unquestionable measurement tool emerged. On the screen of any live broadcast, a simple number in the corner indicates how many are watching at that exact moment. There is no mediation, no sampling, no field survey: it is an automatic counter, visible and verifiable by anyone.

• Research institutes:

  • Work with statistical samples (which may or may not reflect the whole).

  • Depend on trust in the method and in those who commission the research.

  • The general public has no access to the process, only to the final published result.

• YouTube:

  • Shows the audience in real time, visible to everyone.

  • Eliminates intermediaries, bringing absolute transparency.

  • Updates every second, reflecting natural fluctuations in interest.

Thus, YouTube came to be considered, by the public and even by professionals in the field, an “incorruptible certificate of audience.”

The Impact on Radio and TV

Radio and TV programs that migrated to simultaneous broadcasts on YouTube now face this relentless mirror. Regardless of brand prestige, station tradition, or advertising contracts, the number of live viewers reveals, without filter, the real relevance of the content.

This produces several effects:

• Embarrassment for those who inflated numbers based solely on institutes.

• Strengthening of those who manage to engage large online audiences, since the numbers are visible and unquestionable.

• Shift in credibility perception: while traditional research has become “opinion,” YouTube has become “documentary proof.”

  
  

The Future of Measurement

YouTube, alongside other digital platforms, is redefining the credibility standard of audience measurement. While institutes are still important to provide demographic breakdowns and qualitative analysis, the raw number of viewers no longer needs to be estimated — it is visible to everyone.

That is why, in public perception, the number displayed on YouTube carries more weight than any graph published by research institutes. It has become the new stamp of relevance in the media ecosystem.