Feature: Consumers Stay Switched On For Radio Ads
In today’s cluttered media landscape the possibility of advertising overload is increasing and ad-weary consumers appear to be going to greater lengths to avoid the constant stream of marketing messages. However, new research from the RAB reveals that ad avoidance for radio is lower than for any other medium.
The Radio Days 3 study into radio listening habits, behaviour and attitudes shows that just 2% of those surveyed claim to change the radio station when the adverts come on, compared to 21% that avoid ads in newspapers and 19% that change the TV channel during commercial breaks (see below).
The extent to which TV viewers try to avoid advertising was highlighted earlier this week by the London Business School, which released research showing that TV audiences rarely watch adverts during commercial breaks, preferring instead to read, chat or even do the housework (see TV Viewers Rarely Watch Adverts During Commercial Breaks).
There’s little doubt that TV advertising still enjoys a certain dominance over the average marketing budget, but the Radio Days study questions the quality of the traditional 30-second slot. It shows that the number of respondents that find some TV ads very noticeable has fallen, whilst those agreeing that certain radio ads are very noticeable has risen by 19% points over the last three years. Overall, TV ads were found to be more noticeable than radio ads (see below).
A senior figure at GWR’s sales house, Opus, says: “Radio advertising is intrusive without being annoying, it has a high share of voice and a high share of mind. It’s a highly cost effective way of increasing exposure to a company’s name or brand message.”
He adds: “In terms of communicating with consumers radio is seen as far more accessible than TV. You never see people with stickers for ITV in the back of their cars, but stickers for radio stations are all over the place.”
The study also shows that radio’s share of daily media consumption has risen to 32%, making it the second most consumed media behind TV (see above). Radio listeners spend around 3.3 hours tuned in to the radio on an average weekday. This is about an hour less than the time they spend watching television, but is nearly five times that spent reading newspapers or magazines.
Radio was found to dominate media consumption at breakfast time, throughout the morning and into the afternoon, whilst television was shown to be the most consumed medium in the evenings. A senior agency figure said: “A lot of brands use radio to reach light TV viewers during specific day parts. Advertisers often use radio as a low cost add-on to a two or three week TV campaign.”
All of this is good news for commercial radio, which is expected to outperform the market across 2002, with revenue up by 1.0% year on year (Advertising Association). However, the sector still lags behind someway TV in terms of adspend, commanding a 3.6% share of the total advertising market during the third quarter of 2002, compared to 25.3% for TV (Advertising Association).
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