Cumulus/Westwood One Audio Active Group Highlights Study Showing AM/FM Ads Almost As Effective As TV Ads (But A Lot Cheaper)

Ad Effectiveness Study

This week's CUMULUS/WESTWOOD ONE AUDIO ACTIVE GROUP blog post by Chief Creative Officer PIERRE BOUVARD has highlights from an ADVERTISING BENCHMARK INDEX (ABX) study comparing audio advertising to television commercials, finding, among other things, that AM/FM radio creative delivers 92% of the effectiveness of TV ads but at one-fourth the CPM.

The study included two years' worth of ABX tests in the U.S. and 13 other countries, looking at the response to 40,000 ads that included 10,738 TV ads and 2,779 AM/FM radio ads.

ABX President GARY GETTO said, “Moving some TV funds to AM/FM radio produces significantly higher reach. Often the excuse for not doing this is the need for sight, sound, and motion that TV provides and, in many cases, the lack of confidence in AM/FM radio creative’s ability to move the needle. But extensive ABX data shows that AM/FM radio can be nearly as effective as television when best practices in audio creative are followed.”

Other findings included that the best-testing AM/FM ads outperformed 48% of TV ads; for the haircare and skincare category, in which advertisers tend to favor visual ads, AM/FM ads actually perform at 95% of the effectiveness of TV ads for skincare and 89% for haircare, both at significantly lower cost; and AM/FM effectiveness also runs close to TV for another visually-oriented client category, quick service restaurants.

Read more here.

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