NFL Radio Coverage Scores Big For Advertisers All Season.

There's new insight from Cumulus Media/Westwood One into radio's reach, and upscale profile, of NFL football listeners, with research presented in its latest blog.

A study conducted by Nielsen for a brand having advertised on Westwood One's NFL play-by-play broadcasts in all 22 weeks of the regular season and postseason (including the Super Bowl), which examined listening habits of PPM panelists in the sample during all those 22 weeks, shows the campaign's accumulated reach – based on actual week-by-week exposure to the ads – increased twelve times from the first week of the season to the Super Bowl.

“The marketer’s reach exploded from 2.1 million in the first week of the season to 18 million by the end of the regular season,” Cumulus Media/Westwood One Audio Active Group Chief Insights Officer Pierre Bouvard says. “The postseason saw an additional 5.8 million of incremental reach added to the total campaign reach of 23.8 million.”

Additional research helps make a stronger case for NFL radio coverage, with broadcasts carried on 700 U.S. radio stations and their streams, and simulcast on SiriusXM, the NFL app, and Google Home and Amazon Alexa. According to Bouvard, nearly half of the audience listens on AM/FM radio, and half via streaming/SiriusXM.

As noted in the Nielsen study above, and based on a Nielsen Portable Meter listening analysis, advertisers should “buy deep in a game and long in the season, to capture the massive reach,” Bouvard says, referring to the NFL's audio coverage as “a reach-accumulation machine.” As Nielsen shows, 64 million Americans are reached by Westwood One's play-by-play broadcasts across the season.

Advertisers should also be aware that more than 80% of these audience are tuned to the NFL coverage in their vehicles, so closest to the point of purchase. “Reach busy on-the-go people whose 'best available screen' is their in-car AM/FM radio,” Bouvard says.

The NFL's audio coverage also improves the reach and frequency of an NFL TV campaign across all key male demographics. Men 18-34 who are not reached by NFL's TV broadcasts add 19% incremental reach to the TV coverage, with significant boosts in reach for older upscale male audiences as well.

Overall, the NFL's AM/FM radio audience shows a greater likelihood of reaching desirable family-oriented working consumers vs. the total U.S. profile. Listeners are 28% more likely to have children under 18 at home, and 25% more likely to have a household income of $75,000 or higher. It's a shortcut for advertisers to “reach a young, employed, and upscale audience with greater spending power,” Bouvard says.

According to MRI-Simmons data, the NFL games' audio audience is more sports-engaged than its TV audience, with listeners 120% more likely to have participated in a fantasy sports league in the past year, and 74% more likely to have attended any sports events. “The sports listener is more passionate, giving audio commercials greater impact,” Bouvard says.

Studies of a wide variety of marketers – including a business-to-business brand, an online sports betting brand, a mobile app, a major quick-service restaurant, a major retailer, a telecom brand, a prescription discount subscription service, and two financial service firms – show how the NFL's audio coverage lifts brand equity, generate incremental reach, and drive purchase consideration and intent.

“This strong performance is due to a highly engaged mass reach audience, which is closest to the point of purchase,” Bouvard says. “The NFL on Westwood One attracts a desirable consumer profile, which makes an NFL TV investment better.”