While over the air AM/FM radio accounts for 76 percent of the daily audio time spent with any ad-supported platform, digital radio continues to experience exponential growth, earning a significant share of media consumption.
In the Radio Advertising Bureau’s “Marketing Maestros” blog, Tammy Greenberg, SVP of Business Development at RAB, argued that understanding consumer behavior as they move across platforms is “critically important for marketers who are poised to succeed in the rebound.”
“Radio is seamlessly experienced throughout a consumer’s day, regardless of platform, with motivations for listening ranging from companionship to escapism to mood elevation,” Greenberg said. “Listeners rely on the medium to connect them to the content they desire when they want it, how they want it, and where they want it.” She said that listeners “lean into the audio that suits their moods and interests,” and “[i]n turn, audio has the power to improve a listener’s mindset, moments, and receptivity.”
In 2020, a groundbreaking study by Audacy and Alter Agents showed how audio across platforms draws audiences, moves them emotionally and leads them to action. Audio is the “most powerful of mediums,” Audacy concluded, arguing that “audio—like no other media—delivers an immersive experience which triggers memorability, trust and connection. Listeners are drawn in with a sense of community and belonging, and advertisers see consistent results.”
Trust is an important factor in motivating listeners to act. Greenberg noted that recently there has been a strong push for brands to step up as a force for good. “The marketers who have implemented strategies and further defined their values and purpose to support consumers are making a difference, earning trust among consumers, and contributing to a more ‘equal, just, and better world’ in the places consumers call home. Radio, across all of its live, local, experiential, digital, and broadcast platforms, is the most trusted environment for those brand messages to connect and motivate listeners to act,” Greenberg said.
Advertisers, do you want to see consistent results? Motivate listeners to act with the most trusted medium of radio. Contact SMI today.