Already one of radio’s top advertisers, Procter & Gamble has ratcheted up its investment in the medium. P&G upped its radio ad budget by 43% to $235 million last year. According to Vivvix (formerly Kantar Media) the increase was the result of a big jump in advertising on local radio. This came as the company, under margin pressure from rising costs and trying to minimize price hikes, cut measured spending overall by more than 10% to $2.2 billion, Ad Age reports.
“In times of media inflation (which Cortex Media estimated at 7%-8% last year), radio appears to be working as the Hamburger Helper budget-stretcher of unduplicated reach for P&G,” AdAge’s Jack Neff writes.
Details of the P&G 2022 radio ad spend come as it was revealed that 18- to 49-year-olds are spending more time listening to the radio than watching linear TV for the first time ever.
It’s a cost-effective method for the company as the CPM to reach that same audience on TV is as high as $35-$65. YouTube CPMs range from $20-$25 and linear TV is in the $10-$15 range. Radio can be bought at a cost-per-thousand of $5-$6.
P&G began experimenting with a broader use of radio in 2017, Cumulus Media/Westwood One Chief Research Officer Pierre Bouvard said. The focus on radio was suggested by media analyst John Fix at the 2019 NAB Radio Show and first reported by Inside Radio.
P&G spent $70 million on radio ads in 2018, Vivvix says, and gradually increased spending even as the pandemic hit commuting and radio audiences hard in 2020. By 2021, P&G was the biggest radio spender in the U.S., even before last year’s big jump.
“We continue to adjust where we invest as part of our overall strategy to reach our consumers where they are, when they are receptive, and in media that resonates with them,” a spokeswoman told Ad Age.
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