With a briefcase full of charts and graphs, Cumulus Media/Westwood One Audio Active Group Chief Insights Officer Pierre Bouvard goes on the attack against long-held advertiser myths about AM/FM radio’s reach, value and measurability in Westwood One’s weekly blog.
“Ad community perceptions of media audiences are often completely opposite reality,” Bouvard says, citing research from Advertiser Perceptions, Nielsen, Maru, Edison Research and other sources. “The prevailing narratives are wrong. We disprove the biggest misperceptions brands hold about AM/FM radio.”
Coming in at number one is an old favorite, “No one listens to AM/FM radio.” Maybe not exactly no one, but according to Advertiser Perceptions’ August survey, media agencies and advertisers put AM/FM’s reach of persons 18+ in an average week at 45%. Actual weekly reach, according to Nielsen: 82%.
Right behind that is another oft-repeated advertiser theory: “No one under 35 listens to AM/FM radio anymore.” Nielsen debunks this myth, showing that AM/FM reaches 55.4 million persons 18-34 each week.
Likewise, myth-buster Bouvard shows that according to Edison, daily reach for ad-supported Pandora and Spotify is actually 9% vs. Advertiser Perceptions’ sample’s perceived 43%, while ad-supported AM/FM’s reach is at 69%, as opposed to marketers’ perceived 27%.
Potentially feeding these misperceptions is brands’ belief that AM/FM radio listening is impacted by most people still working from home and not commuting. The real story, according to a Nielsen/Maru study, is that as of April 2024, 85% of workers who were pre-COVID commuters are currently working outside the home, while Edison’s Q2 2024 “Share of Ear” survey shows 48% of AM/FM listening occurs in the car, even with where that stood before the pandemic.
When it comes to car listening, a common advertiser theory says most drivers are streaming online radio in the connected-car universe, yet Edison shows AM/FM radio’s share of ad-supported audio time spent among 18+ at a commanding 86%, while ad-supported SiriusXM, Pandora and Spotify together add up to 7%.
From all the above marketer assumptions likely comes the belief that buying connected TV, TV and digital is an optimal media plan, with a 64% monthly reach. Yet, according to Nielsen Media Impact, adjusting that mix to reallocate 10% to AM/FM radio boosts that reach to 77%. Nielsen also shows that such a buy adding AM/FM results in significantly smaller incremental reach generated by CTV and digital vs. radio. “As America’s number one mass reach media, adding AM/FM radio to the media plan always generates large growth in incremental reach,” Bouvard notes.
Along those lines, a strictly-digital-audio ad buy of Spotify, podcasts and Pandora nets just a 31% reach of persons 13+, while AM/FM radio reaches 63% of that target. “The reality is when you put AM/FM radio into a digital audio plan, reach soars,” Bouvard says.
To combat the idea that AM/FM radio provides no return-on-investment or sales lift, the blog shows the findings of a study from Gain Theory and Ebiquity showing that audio ranks second among all media in short-term and third in long-term ROI.
Citing its work with ad-driven site traffic measurement researcher LeadsRx, the Westwood One blog notes that based on nearly 20 attribution studies for brands covering a wide variety of categories, AM/FM radio generates an average impressive 14% lift in site traffic.
Finally, there’s the belief that “AM/FM radio cannot be measured.” Making note of studies such as those above along with those measuring brand lift, audio creative, sales effect, retail location and site-and-search attribution, Bouvard concludes, “Anything that can measured in TV and digital can be measured in audio.”