{"id":642713,"date":"2026-10-27T10:48:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T10:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/642713\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T10:48:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T10:48:13","slug":"advertisers-underestimate-radios-reach-roi-and-measurability-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/642713\/","title":{"rendered":"Advertisers Underestimate Radio\u2019s Reach, ROI And Measurability. | Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

For years, marketers have underestimated AM\/FM radio\u2019s reach, ROI and measurability. Based on new research from Advertiser Perceptions, this continues to be the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cAd industry perceptions of media audiences are often completely opposite reality,\u201d Cumulus Media\/Westwood One Audio Active Group Chief Insights Officer Pierre Bouvard says in Westwood One\u2019s blog<\/a>. Indeed, when asked \u201cWhat percentage of Americans are reached by AM\/FM radio in a typical week?\u201d responses from Advertiser Perceptions\u2019 August 2026 sample of more than 300 media agencies and advertisers averaged 43% vs. Nielsen\u2019s actual weekly reach of 86%. Additionally, radio reaches nine out of ten Americans monthly, according to Nielsen.<\/p>\n

Nielsen also shows that persons 18-34 is the medium\u2019s largest listening demo with a weekly reach of 63.5 million, vs. 57.8 million for adults 35-49, 54.9 for 50-64, and 58.1 for 65+.<\/p>\n

While results from Advertiser Perceptions\u2019 study show perceived audience share for ad-supported Spotify and Pandora rival that of AM\/FM radio, Edison Research\u2019s \u201cShare of Ear\u201d puts AM\/FM\u2019s share of ad-supported audio at 64%, vs. 5% for Spotify and 4% for Pandora. In-car listening to AM\/FM is even stronger, with an 81% share vs. ad-supported Spotify\u2019s 3% and ad-supported Pandora\u2019s 2%.<\/p>\n

As a result of these marketer misperceptions, brands may overlook AM\/FM radio in their media plans, focusing instead on TV and digital media. Not a good move, according to Nielsen Media Impact, which shows that shifting 10% from a plan heavy on connected TV, linear TV and digital to AM\/FM radio increases monthly reach by 20%.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Likewise, a plan with all the chips on digital \u2013 including ad-supported Spotify and Pandora, along with podcasts \u2013 reaches only 32% of persons 18+ vs. AM\/FM radio\u2019s 56% reach, according to Edison, which shows how AM\/FM gives a significant lift to daily reach.<\/p>\n

\u201cA media plan is not complete without AM\/FM radio,\u201d Bouvard says. \u201cAM\/FM radio always elevates the media plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

For marketers claiming a lack of ROI and sales lift and outcomes evidence for AM\/FM radio, there is again a wide gap between perception and reality. While in Nielsen\u2019s survey of Chief Marketing Officers, AM\/FM radio ranked dead last among 12 media with a 46% perceived sales effect, its actual weighted average ROI placed it fourth.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Further proof of AM\/FM radio\u2019s sales effect is its ability to drive search and site traffic, according to findings from LeadsRx\u2019s five-year study of a wide variety of ad categories, which showed that for 17 ad campaigns, AM\/FM generates a 14% lift in site traffic.<\/p>\n

Finally, there is the advertiser claim that AM\/FM radio cannot be measured. However, studies of brand lift, sales and digital audio brand effect, audio creative testing, retail location and site-and-search attribution, and use of enhanced media mix modeling data show that, Bouvard says, \u201cAnything that can be measured in TV and digital can be measured in audio.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For years, marketers have underestimated AM\/FM radio\u2019s reach, ROI and measurability. Based on new research from Advertiser Perceptions,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":642714,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[156,4975,157,111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-642713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-free","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}