4 Reasons Why Radio Can Provide Extra Spring to Marketing Campaigns

It may come as no surprise that news/talk radio listenership spikes during breaking news or natural disasters, such as during the 2017 hurricane season. But you may be astonished to learn that radio is still a top medium in the majority of American lives. Leaving radio off your campaign media mix, may mean missing an important opportunity to reach your target audience. Here are four reasons why you should consider adding radio to your next campaign:

1. Radio reaches more Americans each week.

While Smartphones and tablets are all the rage, believe it or not, traditional media mediums remain consumers' top platforms. According to Nielsen, radio takes the top slot overall reaching 93% of Americans weekly. TV comes in at a close second with an 89% weekly reach.¹

2. Radio helps drive awareness and action.

Jacobs Media's Techsurvey 13 found that a majority of respondents discovered new music through AM/FM radio.² Music is not the only sector getting a boost. A Nielsen study for an automotive dealership showed there were higher awareness of the TV spot when it was paired with a radio ad.³ Wonder if the call to action to a website on a radio spot have any impact? The Radio Advertising Bureau conducted a study looking at 8 brands and 2,157 ads, and found radio drove an overall increase of google searches. While the drive varied across the different brands, radio drove an overall 29% lift in search activity.⁴

3. Radio's addition to your media plan doesn't have to stress your creative strategy.

Radio is an easy addition to your creative to-do list. AdAge reported that the Advertising Research Foundation's “How Advertising Works Today” study, found that “unified cross-media campaigns were on average 57% more effective than those that aren't.”⁵ At MultiVu, we capture sound bites during satellite media tours and video shoots, and integrating them into radio scripts. These spots are distributed across the county or targeted towards client's specific markets.

4. Need to reach a particular demographic? Try radio.

42 million (98% of all Hispanics), and 32 million (93% of all African Americans) tune into radio each week. It is the top reaching medium for both of these groups. Age is also a factor. Nielsen's portable people meter (PPM) market data shows that kids, teens and millennials favor Pop Contemporary Hits Radio. Once listeners advance to the 25-54 age group, News/Talk jumps from the bottom of preferred formats to the number two position. The dramatic change allowed the News/Talk format to obtain its position as the number one overall format in 2017.

Perhaps as marketers, we should remember to go a little radio ga ga occasionally. As Queen once sang, “Radio, someone still loves you!”

1. “State of the Media - Audio Today 2017.” Nielsen. 22-June-2017.
2. “Jacobs Media: Techsurvey 13: Navigating the New Media Landscape.” Jacobs Media 2017.
3. “Nielsen Audio.” Nielsen.
4. “Radio Drives Search.” Radio Advertising Bureau, September 2017.
5. Neff, Jack. “ARF: Brands Should Be Spending $31 Billion More This Year Than They Are”. AdAge, 14-March-2016
6. “State of the Media: Audio Today 2017. A Focus on Black & Hispanic Audiences.” Nielsen, September 2017.

ABOUT THE EXPERT: Wendy Chung

A graduate of New York University's Communication Studies program, Wendy began her career in commercial production. With a blooming interest in media strategy, Wendy spent time at account services and marketing team before joining MultiVu in 2008. She currently oversees radio, television, out-of-home and PSA strategy and the execution of the team.