Westwood One: Audio ROI Stronger Than Perception Suggests.

Despite lingering perceptions that audio is difficult to measure and delivers weaker returns, the reality, shown by multiple studies in Westwood One’s blog, is a different story entirely.

“Yes, your audio campaign can be measured,” Cumulus Media/Westwood One Audio Active Group Chief Insights Officer Pierre Bouvard says. “Audio has entered a golden age of measurement with a wide array of firms now quantifying audio sales effect, brand lift, search and site attribution, and creative effectiveness.”

Indeed, perception and reality are far apart. A Circana study shows that CMOs ranked AM/FM radio last in perceived effectiveness, compared to a ranking of actual weighted average ROI, where AM/FM ranks second.

A study from ABCS Insights, commissioned by iHeartMedia, finds that for a retailer’s ad campaign, both AM/FM radio and digital media drive significant sales effect, with AM/FM responsible for $5.8 million, and digital audio $2 million, of incremental sales.

Additionally, ABCS’ study shows that the AM/FM radio ad campaign yielded 20% greater sales per person reached than digital audio, where the average person reached by AM/FM generated $1.04 of sales vs. 87 cents for digital audio. 

“In the Outcomes Era, audio is no longer a ‘hard-to-measure’ channel,” ABCS Insights CEO Jerome Shimizu says. “ABCS Insights directly measures sales lift from ad exposure, connecting impressions to real consumer purchases and proving impact across the funnel — from awareness all the way to incremental sales.”

Contributing to the perception of AM/FM radio having low sales effect is the idea that the medium suffers due to the lack of sight and motion. Attentiveness measurement firm Adelaide, however, finds that AM/FM radio, streaming audio and podcasts generate nearly the same attentiveness as TV, with AM/FM having 85% of the attentiveness of linear TV at one-fourth the CPM.

“The strong performance of audio formats challenges long-held assumptions and offers marketers a compelling opportunity to maximize effectiveness,” Adelaide CEO and co-founder Marc Guldimann says.

Also notable is a finding from Lumen, another attentiveness measurement firm, that AM/FM radio is significantly more cost efficient than TV, based on attention CPM (40 cents, vs. $3). Overall, audio media outperform video for attention and brand recall.

The blog also cites a study from marketing expert and author Peter Field, comparing brands with AM/FM radio in their media plans to those without. The takeaway? Marketers using AM/FM radio have: 13% greater mental availability, as in the propensity of a brand to be noticed and thought of in buying situations; 28% larger market share; and see a 42% lift in the number of companies reporting large profits, and a 23% increased return on marketing investment.