Andrew Eisner (Veritonic, Inc.), Michele Madansky, Ph.D. (iHeartMedia)
Each month, 271 million people listen to on-air radio, the largest weekly each of any medium (even among Millennials, radio has a reach of over 90%). Audio is also growing, with yearly increases of 3% for broadcast radio, 30% for audio streaming, and 41% for podcasts.
A recent study showed that radio ads played in context with music and DJs have a higher level of attention and emotional engagement. To build on this, iHeartRadio and Veritonic partnered on a study to answer “how do we make radio creatives that resonate?”.
Veritonic uses machine listening and panel data to upload and predict the performance of radio ads. Their dashboard shows second by second results for each ad. For this study, a sample of 7,000 persons 18-65 was used to test 200 ads in 10 different categories.
Key takeaways:
- Consider jingles: The top performing ads were significantly more likely to use a jingle.
- Audio “logos” improve purchase intent. Seven of the top 10 performing ads had one, compared with none of the bottom 10.
- Make sure there is clarity and focus. The highest scoring 20 ads included an average of 1.6 product mentions; the bottom 20 averaged 5.0 product mentions.
- Emphasize your product, not competitors. The top 20 ads had no mentions of a competitor, while nine of the bottom 20 did.
- Disclaimers aren’t a negative if done right: six of the top 20 ads had a disclaimer.
- Millennials 18-34 respond more positively to radio advertising than older adults age 35+.