Multiple Nielsen Case Studies Prove AM/FM Radio Makes TV Buys Better
Furniture stores, attorneys, auto dealers, hospitals – these advertisers exist in every market. The thing many have in common? They buy a lot of TV and very little AM/FM radio. Sometimes radio isn’t in the media plan at all.
What is the best way to help these advertisers grow sales? Just add AM/FM radio! According to multiple case studies from Nielsen, a smart way to optimize a TV media plan is to move some money to AM/FM radio.
Nielsen: AM/FM radio is TV’s “reach accelerator”
A series of Nielsen cross-media studies commissioned by Westwood One finds the addition of AM/FM radio to the TV plan reaches a lot more people, for the same money. Nielsen studied the TV and AM/FM radio campaigns of a quick service restaurant, a home improvement retailer, courier services company, a wireless provider, and a retailer.
Nielsen examined all of the TV and radio advertising occurrences against their 80,000-person Portable People Meter panel to determine actual commercial audience exposure. Nielsen was able to determine how many consumers only saw the TV ads, how many just heard the AM/FM radio ads, and how many were exposed both the TV and AM/FM radio ads.
Adding AM/FM radio to the TV plan generates a +20% lift in incremental reach
While each campaign utilized varying levels of TV and AM/FM radio investment, putting AM/FM radio into the media plan consistently increases campaign reach.
Four consistent themes emerged.
- The younger the demographic, the greater the increase in incremental reach generated by AM/FM radio: Across the five categories, AM/FM radio generated an average +13% incremental lift to TV reach among persons 55+ and a +26% increase in TV reach among persons 35-54. Among persons 18-49, reach grew by +33% and among persons 18-34, reach increased by +41%.
- AM/FM radio generates large reach lifts in bigger households with children: Across the five case studies, AM/FM radio drove greater reach growth with larger households with kids and teens.
- Reach among employed consumers gets a major boost when AM/FM radio is added to the plan: If a brand target includes the workforce, AM/FM radio is the ideal addition to the media plan.
- The major source of AM/FM radio’s incremental reach are light TV viewers: Across the five studies, the vast majority of the new consumers reach were light TV viewers. Very little of AM/FM radio’s incremental reach comes from the heavy TV viewers who get hammered with TV ads. Most of AM/FM radio’s incremental reach comes from those who rarely or never see TV ads.
How To Sell This To Your Local Advertisers
Download the attached one-sheet, add your station/company logo, and get this out to those accounts that traditionally are big TV sponsors, like furniture stores, car dealers, hospitals and attorneys. All businesses in these trying times are looking at efficiency, as well as ways to cut through to consumers, and radio in the media mix has a powerful hand in that.
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Want to enhance a TV buy? Just add AM/FM radio. It makes TV better.
NOTICE: Local Sales Insights is a service for the exclusive use of affiliates of Westwood One’s 24-Hour Formats, and use by any others is expressly forbidden.