Advertisers are much more likely to favour radio as a medium if they listen to it themselves, according to a recent survey conducted by the Radio Advertising Bureau. The Client Benchmark survey, based on questionaires sent to 600 national advertisers, found that those who do not listen to commercial stations were unsure if people actually listened to radio ads.
Advertisers see their agencies as responsible for their failure to use radio, almost 50% of clients questioned said that agencies will not usually consider radio until the client asks them. Agencies, on the other hand, blame their clients. 60% of media people questioned in a previous RAB survey, said that their clients were more biased against radio than other mediums.
Advertisers remain unsure about the effectiveness of radio advertising, with three quarters of those questioned agreeing there is little published evidence to support the effectiveness of the medium. Advertisers also hold reservations about the power of an advertising medium that has no visual content.
According to the survey the greatest incentive for advertisers to use radio is its high ABC1 profile. Steve Cox, media planner, at the RAB points out “There is a widely held view that commercial radio is a somewhat downmarket medium, but people forget the sheer number of TV viewing hours accounted for by C2DE viewers – radio’s hours are 42% ABC1, while the equivalent figure for TV is only 35%.”
As far as increasing advertisers and clients awareness of radio Andrew Ingram, account planner at the RAB, believes “The introduction of Classic and Virgin will undoubtedly help here because the majority of client and agency people fall into the demographic groups targeted by those stations”.
