Inside Magellan’s Effort To Bring Digital-Style Attribution To Radio.

Radio executives have long argued advertisers undervalue audio because it’s measured differently than digital. Magellan AI thinks that disconnect is costing the entire audio business money. To fix it, the measurement company, best known for its podcast advertising analytics, has spent the past two years building a new attribution platform designed to measure broadcast radio alongside podcasts and streaming audio. The goal is not simply to prove radio works, but to help advertisers evaluate all forms of audio using the same language they already use for digital media.

"The endgame is to get people to spend more on audio, not just radio," says Magellan President of Measurement Jim Ballas. He agrees audio has suffered from a perception problem among advertisers, who often gravitate toward other channels because they offer familiar attribution metrics. By giving buyers a unified view of broadcast radio, podcasting and streaming audio, Ballas thinks it will show audio can be measured.

“Audio as a channel is super effective, it’s super lean-in, and it’s everywhere,” Ballas says. “Audio as a whole has been a little bit devalued, so we want to bring all sides into focus.”

The project grew out of conversations with broadcasters that increasingly operate across multiple audio platforms but lack a common way to evaluate performance. Ballas says they were seeking a more holistic solution that could include on-air and digital.

But unlike digital audio, where user behavior can be tracked directly using pixels, radio attribution requires a more complex approach. Magellan combines multiple data sources, including over-the-air listening signals, streaming proxies and other audience data. The company then applies modeling techniques similar to those used in digital attribution systems.

“We’re building a very granular, bottom-up kind of model,” Ballas says, explaining they use whatever data a specific broadcast has access to. “Broadcasters probably have more than they think,” he adds.

Early Results Show Advantage

Magellan announced in March it would being offering broadcast attribution. Early case studies are already producing results that could strengthen radio’s case with advertisers.

One campaign focused primarily on brand awareness and driving consumers to a website. “The broadcast ads drove twice as many visitors to the site versus the digital ads,” Ballas says, admitting he was surprised how big the difference was.

A second study involving an ecommerce computer retailer produced different results. Digital ads generated stronger response rates on a per-impression basis, but radio delivered substantially more total sales because of its reach and scale.

“On a per impression basis, radio wasn’t as effective,” Ballas says. “But it drove more than three times the amount of total purchases, so the volume was huge.”

The findings reinforce what many broadcasters have long argued about radio’s strengths.

“Radio is driving volume,” Ballas says. “The common assumption has always been the reach and frequency of radio is going to provide a ton of people that get your message and respond to it.”

At the same time, Ballas says the data suggests digital audio such as podcasts can still outperform radio on a per-impression basis, underscoring why he views the opportunity as larger than any single channel.

“Some campaigns your broadcast will be better, some digital is better,” he says. “But being able to measure all of those things together is important.”

Agencies Seek Proof

The launch comes as agencies and advertisers increasingly demand performance metrics across every media channel. Ballas says the response from buyers has been positive, particularly because their measurement allows them to evaluate radio, podcasting and streaming audio using a common framework.

The unified approach may also encourage advertisers that traditionally focus on digital to experiment with radio. “Some of them are willing to say, ‘Oh, I do digital, I don’t know how to test radio, so maybe I’ll give that a go,’” Ballas suggests.

Magellan announced iHeartMedia as an early partner and it’s currently measuring hundreds of campaigns for the company. Ballas says roughly a half-dozen other broadcasters are also in various stages of onboarding and testing. As more join, he expects Magellan will eventually publish radio performance benchmarks similar to those it already provides for podcast and digital audio advertising.

For Ballas, the bigger opportunity is not proving radio can outperform podcasts or streaming audio. It is convincing advertisers that all forms of audio deserve a larger share of media budgets by finally giving buyers the measurement tools they have long demanded.