The latest outbreak of COVID cases has two pharma giants using radio to encourage Americans to get vaccine booster shots. Since mid-September, Moderna has climbed 23-6-5 while Pfizer lunges back into the top 10 during the week of Oct. 2-8. For both companies, the message is get this season's updated COVID-19 vaccines. Pfizer has had a growing radio presence in the past two years – the 174-year-old multinational spent more than $62 million on network radio in 2022, helping make pharmaceuticals a top network radio ad category.
Two weeks after it hurdled up the spot count chart to become radio’s new top advertiser, Boost Infinite has returned to the upper reaches of the Media Monitors chart. The Dish Wireless-owned mobile provider aired 46,455 commercials to land in second place, trailing only perennial leader ZipRecruiter. Boost Infinite has scaled the chart in short order, increasing its flight from just 7,440 radio spots during the week of Sept. 11-17 to nearly 50,000 less than a month later, eclipsing Straight Talk at No. 22 and Verizon Wireless at No. 69.
A new two-season podcast series from Pushkin Industries and iHeart Podcasts based on interviews with rock legend Paul McCartney is getting a hefty push from iHeartMedia stations, which collectively aired 27,084 promos during the latest reporting week for "McCartney: A Life in Lyrics.” The interviews with Macca conducted by poet Paul Muldoon for the bestselling book, “The Lyrics: 1965 to Present,” have also been repurposed as a radio series for classic rock, classic hits, and oldies stations.
Twelve of the top 100 positions on the latest spot count chart have been appropriated by Procter & Gamble brands, including five in the top 30 and eight in the top 50.
Meanwhile, legal services continue to grow as a radio ad category with three law firms in the top 100, led by Morgan & Morgan at No. 16, Cordell & Cordell at No. 60, and Anidjar & Levine at No. 66.
For the week of Oct. 2-8, 2023, the top ten on the Media Monitors tally are ZipRecruiter at 1, Boost Infinite at 2, Vicks at 3, Upside at 4, Moderna at 5, Babbel at 6, Bank of America at 7, Swiffer at 8, the “McCartney: a Life In Lyrics” podcast at 9 and Pfizer at 10.
