Radio Beats TV In Campaign Effectiveness Study.

It’s another case of TV ad spend dwarfing that of audio, yet AM/FM radio and podcast ads outscore TV’s nearly across the board. That’s the story of a nasal congestion and allergy relief brand’s recent campaign, based on an analysis in Westwood One’s blog.

“Surprisingly, brands that strongly advertise on TV have greater awareness among heavy audio listeners than among heavy TV viewers,” Cumulus Media/Westwood One Audio Active Group Chief Insights Officer Pierre Bouvard says. “This is because heavy audio consumers are much bigger users of the entire nasal/allergy relief category than TV viewers.”

Following the brand’s national AM/FM radio campaign in winter 2026, a Quantilope study of 1,000 adults 35+ — both exposed and not exposed to the ads — found that brand awareness, familiarity, favorability, consideration and usage were in most cases significantly stronger among heavy AM/FM and podcast listeners, vs. heavy TV watchers and total U.S. for the demographic.

“AM/FM radio worked,” Bouvard says. “Those exposed to the AM/FM radio campaign exhibited much stronger brand equity vs. those unexposed.”

This is the case in spite of the nasal/allergy relief category’s massive spend on TV vs. audio during Q1 2026 — 91% on the former, vs. 9% for AM/FM radio and 0.5% for podcasts, according to MediaRadar and Magellan AI. “While TV spend for the nasal/allergy relief category dwarfs audio investment, brand equity and usage underperform among heavy TV viewers,” Bouvard says.

Indeed, Quantilope’s study found that all brands in the category had stronger awareness, favorability and consideration among heavy audio listeners.

“The reason nasal/allergy relief brand equity is so much stronger among audio listeners? Compared to TV viewers, audio listeners are much bigger users of all brands in the nasal/allergy category,” Bouvard says, noting Quantilope’s results showing close to 80% of heavy audio users currently use a nasal/allergy relief brand, vs. 62% for heavy TV viewers. For the top four brands used, as reported by the sample, share of users is notably higher among listeners than viewers.

The study found that users of nasal and allergy relief products are more likely to listen to oldies/classic hits, classic rock, rock, top 40 and adult contemporary AM/FM radio formats, while their most popular podcast genres include music, news/current events, entertainment/culture, comedy and politics/government.

With audio’s strength vs. TV, it follows that heavy AM/FM and podcast listeners like a nasal/allergy brand’s ad more than heavy TV viewers or the U.S. average, are more likely to agree with the relief benefits advertised, and are more likely to take action after being exposed to the ad.

“Audio listeners are much more responsive to the AM/FM radio ad than consumers overall and TV viewers,” Bouvard says. “The nasal/allergy relief ad’s key copy points resonated strongly with audio listeners. TV viewers? Not so much.”