The latest edition of Westwood One's “Everyone's Listening” blog posed the question: post-pandemic, does AM/FM radio still generate impressive sales effect for retailers?
Cumulus Media put that to the test, commissioning a Nielsen study covering every spot aired during an office supply retailer's campaign over several radio networks from July through October 2021, so including back-to-school shopping weeks. To measure the campaign's impact on spend per buying household, customer base, total sales and in-category revenue share, Nielsen matched commercial exposure among 20,000 panelists in its 48 Portable People Meter markets who were the retailer's customers with credit and debit purchase data, comparing the near-12,000 exposed to the ads with the 8,000 unexposed to determine the campaign's effectiveness.
As part of its analysis, Nielsen measured both in-store and online purchases, with online shopping generating greater spend per transaction as these shoppers represented 17% of total spend from only 8% of total transactions.
For the retailer, the AM/FM campaign generated increases across-the-board, in customer growth (up 6%), spend per buying household (up 11%), spend per transaction (15%) and share of category (21%). “This is hard evidence of AM/FM radio’s ability to drive significant business outcomes,” Cumulus Media Chief Insights Officer Pierre Bouvard says.
At the same time, the campaign drove a 23% sales increase in households with children, likely driven by back-to-school supply sales. Among these households the ads generated a 4% gain in share of category spend, 10% growth in spend per buying household and an 11% customer increase.