From Stitch Fix and Dollar Shave Club to Blue Apron and Warby Parker, direct-to-consumer brands have been integrating radio into their media mix – and with good reason. Among radio listeners aged 18+, 95% are online shoppers while 93% are either spending the same or more compared to last year, according to GfK MRI-Simmons data from Winter 2022. What’s more, online shoppers are heavy users of radio and light users of print and TV.
A new report from Katz Radio Insights and Analytics shows how these and other brands experienced a quantifiable boost by investing in local radio. An online retailer saw a 22% increase in top-of-mind awareness. A rubbish removal service experienced a 28% lift in web traffic. A weight loss company registered a 20% increase in brand consideration. Brand awareness rose 23% for a shopping app.
Meanwhile, an Audio Amplification study from Audacy demonstrates the return on ad spend across several categories that came from shifting a portion of ad budgets to audio.
Using a Neustar analysis of more than 40 national advertisers’ media mix performance, Audacy showed that shifting 1.8% of media investment resulted in a 23% increase in return on ad spend for the automotive category. Similar returns were found for retail (audio spend +1.1% = +16% ROAS), financial services (+1.2% audio spend = +14% ROAS) and telecom (+ 0.8% audio spend = +11% ROAS).
Through a series of infographics and research tidbits, the Katz report makes the case that “Radio Fuels the D2C Pipeline.” A line graph of audience flow throughout the day shows how radio reaches consumers during prime hours when messaging is most relevant. Nearly two thirds of listeners (64%) typically listen to endorsements while engaging with AM/FM radio, second only to podcasts at 65% and above online audio services (62%), streaming TV (58%), live or pre-recorded TV (56%) and social media (51%).
“As we hope to begin a transition from pandemic to endemic, retailers are seeing more consumers return to in-store purchasing, while ecommerce continues to grow,” Lisa Cirigliano, Director of Insight and Analytics, Katz Radio Group, says in the intro to the report. “Large corporations and brands found great value in ecommerce and the direct-to-consumer (D2C) relationship over the past few years, adding new customers through a new channel. A traditional avenue for start-ups and small businesses, see why this model will continue its growth among the bigger brands and how radio is key to generatingbrand awareness and driving site traffic.” View the report HERE.
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