Radio Delivers Multiplier Effect For QSR.

Note to advertisers: before rushing to judgment and cutting AM/FM radio from a media buy based on no clear measure of effectiveness, consider using media mix modeling to check on the true power of the medium.

That’s the story of a quick-service restaurant that was ready to pull the plug until MMM results led to a greater investment in AM/FM radio ads, as told in Westwood One’s blog. Using AI-predictive modeling from marketing company Seeda, which measured AM/FM up against more than 20 other media choices for 60 days, results showed a 30% increase in marketing‑contributed revenue during the initial optimization window, and a 5% year-over-year boost in sales during a tough seasonal period.

“AM/FM radio stayed and grew because the model proved when and how AM/FM radio pays,” Cumulus Media/Westwood One Audio Active Group Chief Insights Officer Pierre Bouvard says. “AM/FM radio’s role in the media plan was retained and increased based upon the evidence in Seeda’s Media Mix Modeling.”

Comparing weekly sales of the QSR brand with the sales effect of the AM/FM radio campaign, Seeda’s analysis showed that AM/FM radio’s effects last up to three weeks after the campaign. “There is direct relationship between AM/FM radio investment and its sales impact for the QSR brand,” Bouvard says. “As AM/FM radio investment grows, there is a multiplier effect of AM/FM radio’s sales effect.”

While the MMM found that AM/FM radio advertising generated $3.60 in sales for every dollar invested, at a weekly spend of $30,000, it also identified the optimal spend balancing sales effect and ROI. “Seeda’s study reveals the ROI paradox: sometimes ROI is highest when as ad spending is lowest,” Bouvard says. “Seeda’s analysis found the sweet spot between sales growth and ROI, [and that] light spend generates strong ROIs and weak sales.”

Seeda also found that at $3.60, AM/FM radio has the third highest ROI among ad media, ahead of paid social, display, TV and out of home.

Seeda’s media mix modeling showed AM/FM radio to have the lowest cost-per-QSR transaction on a past-two-month basis, undercutting Meta, Google ads or OOH. “At an $11 cost per transaction, AM/FM radio is five times more cost effective than Meta’s whopping $58 cost per transaction, [and] AM/FM radio ads’ costs per transaction are 45% more cost effective than Google Ads,” Bouvard says. “Because AM/FM radio ad impacts last longer, they reduce the cost per transaction of the last two months.”

Research from MRI-Simmons backs up AM/FM radio’s effectiveness when it comes to QSR advertising, showing that as listening increases QSR spending grows, while the opposite is the case for TV viewing. This can be attributed to the similarity between fast-food consumers and heavy AM/FM listeners: both skew younger, are more likely to be employed and to have children, and to clock a lot of miles in their vehicles.Based on its findings, to bring out the best of AM/FM radio in MMM, Seeda recommends advertisers: ship as‑run occurrences and audience deliveries vs. plans; create variance as opposed to 50 identical GRPs; provide high‑frequency outcomes (as in weekly sales/transactions), plus promos and store cadences; model the full mix so AM/FM radio’s lift isn’t masked by platform self‑credit; and validate to win over finance and franchisees.

“We’ve seen this pattern repeatedly – brands ready to cut radio spend because they couldn’t prove it was working. Traditional marketing measurement simply can’t measure offline channels,” Seeda Media Mix Modeling CEO Michael Kinston says, “When we apply rigorous media mix modeling methodology, radio often emerges as one of the most efficient channels in the mix. This QSR client is a perfect example: they actually cut radio entirely before working with us, and now it’s a cornerstone of their media strategy.”