By Adam R Jacobson
RBR + TVBR
New research from Nielsen shows that more Americans engage in the world’s original electronic medium each month than any social media platform or mobile/PC-based activity.
RBR + TVBR OBSERVATION (Full text below, for subscribers): Some 263 million American consumers engage with AM and FM radio each month. That puts Radio ahead of social media darlings who are attracting a whole lot of advertiser attention. So why do media buyers and advertisers express so much disdain toward Radio?
The audience measurement company took a look at the total audience in the domestic media universe, and confirmed what many pro-radio associations and C-Suite executives have been saying for months: Radio still matters, and in a big way.
Some 263 million people engage with AM and FM radio each month. That puts Radio at No. 2 behind Live + DVR and time-shifted television consumption, with some 287 million people engaged with TV each month.
Isolating DVR and time-shifted TV, some 200 million consumers are engaged each month in this type of television usage.
Thus, when it comes to live at-this-moment reach, AM and FM radio are one of the most highly effective outlets for marketers and brand managers.
How does social media stack up?
According to Nielsen some 176 million Americans engage with a social media app or web-based platform each month on a smartphone.
Furthermore, some 113 million Americans engage with social media on a PC each month.
Meanwhile, monthly user engagement with AM and FM dwarfs that of game consoles, which see some 93 million Americans engage with this type of entertainment device each month.
Radio also has a greater number of consumers that engage with the medium each month than “video on a smartphone”—whether it be a YouTube video or watching a full-length show on Netflix. The total number of consumers who are engaged in this type of smartphone activity each month numbers 151 million.
Dennis Wharton, EVP/Communications for the NAB, says radio broadcasters have acknowledged the growth of digital, both in terms of audience and advertising dollars.
“It’s not like radio stations are ignoring digital,” he says. “Every radio station understands that there are new platforms that consumers are embracing. But, the continued untold story is the relevance and reliability of local radio. People have been trying to write the obit for radio since the days of ‘talkies’ and black-and-white platform, and here we are 80 years later with a platform that is unmatched in terms of reach, with content that reaches so many people each and every week.”
Yet the radio industry continues to struggle to attract the attention of some brand managers and ad buyers. Wharton blames that ignorance on “twentysomething ad buyers who don’t have a full appreciation of what radio does day-in and day-out, and its relevance to local audiences.”
Then there’s radio’s ability to reach multiethnic audiences, serving as a key “total market” medium at a time when clients are choosing efficiencies and economics over insights and analysis.
As Nielsen notes, data used in the report are inclusive of multicultural audiences, with Hispanic consumers comprised of both English-preferred and Spanish-preferred respondents.
RBR + TVBR OBSERVATION: Bring out the pom-poms! Some 263 million American consumers engage with AM and FM radio each month. That puts Radio ahead of social media darlings who are attracting a whole lot of advertiser attention. So, why do media buyers and advertisers express so much disdain toward Radio?
The RAB and NAB continuously work hard to promote radio’s reach. Nielsen has served as a key player in proving AM and FM’s mettle.
But these efforts can only go so far when media buyers and planners, brand managers, CMOs and perhaps the entire C-Suite believe radio simply “isn’t cool” and can’t bring the ROI that some hot social or digital platform can.
OK, hipster dude with the North Face wardrobe and iTunes playlist featuring the new Michael Kiwanuka track. Stop playing air hockey in your ad agency’s breakroom and pay attention to the facts about media effectiveness and learn about how to provide your client the best ROI for their buck, before you lose the client following a review—and then your job.
Radio works. Radio plus digital may prove to be a better mix. Radio plus social might just be perfect.
Today at RBR.com we provide a look at the top 10 advertisers at cable television. Verizon Wireless is No. 1. They’re not on the Media Monitors Spot Ten charts for either broadcast TV or radio for the week ending August 28.
C’mon, Verizon … and every other company putting money into cable TV and not into radio.
Your audience is waiting.
Your profits and competitor advantage are there for the taking.
If only the people controlling the budgets knew what they’re missing while rushing to and from their Manhattan jobs via train, or bus, or ferry.
