RAB research: Radio boosts online brand browsing by 52%

The Radio Advertising Bureau has released new research into how offline media drives brand browsing online, which found that when listeners are exposed to radio advertising for a specific brand, they are 52% more likely to include that brand-name in their internet browsing.

The study, unveiled today in London, was carried out by Dollywagon Media Science and Other Lines of Enquiry, and revealed that 58% of all browsing that was identified as being stimulated by radio takes place in 24 hours of exposure to advertising.

The biggest ever survey into radio advertising’s effect on online brand browsing, it analysed detailed browsing patterns of people who were exposed to a random sample of 23 ‘live’ radio campaigns and compared them to a sample of people who were not exposed. Using J-ET, the industry wide trading system which Dollywagon’s Jason Brownlee today called “the world’s most sophisticated” display advertising trading system, the research was able to identify which advertising campaigns listeners were likely to be exposed to.

Mark Barber, planning director at the Radio Advertising Bureau, said: “This is the first ever study quantifying how offline media influences the actual behaviour of consumers online.

“Previous studies have highlighted radio’s complementary characteristics with the internet but this is the first piece of insight that shows the extent to which radio advertising drives online success for brands.

“The findings are highly significant for brands in markets where the internet provides the crucial final stage of customer buying – radio advertising offers these brands the chance to ‘turbo charge’ this part of the marketing process.”

The research also showed that, on average, the brands involved in the study allocated just 10% of their total spend on media to radio.