Radio's audiences continue to span all generations, demographics, and ethnicities and brands are tuning in.
It's no surprise that billion dollar advertisers are rediscovering radio because the reach is unmatched and more than 249,000,000 people (12+) listen to radio every week. That's a lot of people — we're talking more than Facebook and Google. Even better, they're listening consistently. Americans (13+) listen to 73 minutes of audio in the car every single day.
Does it really reach everyone?
Advertisers know that older demographics listen to radio, but they want to know more about the consumption habits of younger demographics. This makes sense because millennials and Generation Z are notoriously attached to their screens and a lot of traditional advertising methods don't reach them. However, radio appears to be the exception.
It is predicted that radio will continue to perform well with younger demographics. Deloitte Global shared their estimates about listening habits for those who are 18-34 and they predict that 90% of that population will listen to radio at least weekly in 2019 and will likely spend more time listening to radio than watching traditional TV in the next few years.
Radio reaches everyone, but does it work?
What's important is that radio advertising actually works. Audio evokes emotion and the goal for any marketer is to establish a connection with their customers. In fact, studies have illustrated how audio has a powerful influence over our emotional strength and strengthens memory encoding too. There’s something inherently memorable about a good audio ad.
The impact is demonstrated in lift, as well. That’s what a study commissioned by the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) sought to quantify — specifically digital lift. The RAB retained researchers to study the search impact of 2,157 AM/FM radio ads across 8 different brands and the findings showed that broadcast radio played a significant role in increasing online search. From a jewelry retailer seeing a massive 370% search lift to an 18% increase in web traffic for an auto dealer.
There's a reason new ad dollars are flowing to the medium, and major national brand names that have been absent from commercial radio for decades can once again be heard on the air. To this day, half of all audio listening still occurs via AM/FM radio and we are entering into a new age of what radio has to offer both consumers and marketers.
Do you have any bold audio advertising ideas? We’d love to hear all about them! Chat with us on Twitter.
