During the past several years, there has been a wave of new research demonstrating radio’s efficacy in helping brands achieve their business goals. Now Audacy is out with “State of Audio: Level Up,” the fifth installment of its bi-annual “State of Audio Guide” thought-leadership series. It’s intended as a go-to playbook—including planning tips, creative how-to’s and innovative trends—to help advertisers level up the performance of their audio investments.
The guide summarizes findings from recent studies, including one from dentsu showing audio delivers more than two times the attention of TV and social media at more desirable CPMs. Another study, conducted by Audacy and Neustar, found that advertisers are leaving upwards of $6 billion in revenue on the table by not including a balanced mix of traditional broadcast radio and digital audio in their media mix. The report singles out a campaign by concert promoter Live Nation that delivered a 1,000% return on ad spend (ROAS) for their integrated audio campaign.
Audacy makes the case that radio and digital audio are stronger together. When compared to digital-only campaigns, a multi-platform audio campaign produces 1.5 times the return on ad spend, it says.
“Audio advertising has many moving parts: creative, frequency, day-parts, genre, and measurement,” the report says. To help advertisers navigate the medium, “State of Audio: Level Up” gathered advice from experts in each specialty to simplify creating audio campaigns. The guide includes “cheat codes” including:
Building creative that will maximize the value of advertiser buys
Metrics that allow advertisers to measure audio vs. other media accurately
Podcast campaign ideas that break through the noise
“Audio is proving itself as a must-have media for savvy marketers,” said Paul Suchman, Chief Marketing Officer, Audacy. “Our advertisers are embracing the power of multi-platform audio with media plans that utilize radio, digital audio and podcasts, working together to their full potential while seeing the impact on their ability to reach audiences with unprecedented precision and drive quantifiable outcomes for their brands.”