Radio advertising continues to be one of the most popular forms of advertising available. And for good reason –
it is also one of the most effective with the vast majority of adults in the UK and Africa tuning in to radio each week.

This coupled with station loyalty amongst listeners means that it outstrips virtually all other media including
newspaper, magazine and television.

When you think about it, it makes sense. How many adverts did you actually notice the last time you picked up
a newspaper. Generally there are so many that you cannot see the wood for the trees. With radio advertising, the
ad breaks are normally quite brief, distinct and have a relatively small number of adverts in each ad break which
increases the impact of each of them and enhances the response rate for the advertiser. Radio is also free, unlike
most newspapers and 60% of the typical free newspaper is adverts. This leads to a cluttering effect and
confusion of your business with another’s, especially if that business is advertising for similar reasons.

Newspaper advertising is limited in how many people notice it and how many people pay attention to it. 50% of
people who read a newspaper do not get past the first section (Media Audit, March 2001) and 58% of people
who see a full page advert don’t bother to read it (Radio Marketing Guide & Fact Book for Advertisers, 2001-2002).
Equally with television. Once the Holy Grail of advertising and still generally more expensive than radio
advertising. However, the remote control killed television advertising from the perspective of the advertiser.

We all tend to flick through the channels when the commercial break comes on. Not so with radio advertising –
rarely do people change channels when an ad break comes on. Indeed, people change channels much less often
with radio anyway – Radio Loyalty is high with most people tending to listen to the same channel all the time.

Saatchi and Saatchi said that Radio advertising has the highest impact in the short term of all forms of
advertising, and they knew a bit about advertising
Radio is somewhat unique in that it can be either passive or active unlike watching TV or reading a newspaper
which must be done actively. Nine out of 10 people listen to the radio when they are doing something else. This
allows advertisers to reach them when they are engaged in another activity whether that is washing the dishes,
working on the computer or driving the car.

Furthermore, radio listening is greater than TV viewing until mid-afternoon, thus providing an opportunity to
reach people first thing in the morning; on their way to work; before going out shopping; when thinking about
taking a break etc. This puts radio in a strong position to influence the shopping decision-making process at
relevant times.

Radio is a highly portable medium that invades lots of different environments. It is possible to reach people inhome,
in-car, on public transport (via personal stereos and mobile phones), at work, or elsewhere all using the
same medium. No other medium offers this breadth of different consumer locations.
Radio can provide opportunities for targeting specific audiences not only by geographical area, but also by type
of audience or demographic group. Different stations or programmes attract different types of listener so adverts
can be targeted to relevant audiences with minimum wastage.

Consumers spend a third of their media day with radio. Additionally radio naturally builds higher levels of
frequency than other media. This provides advertisers with opportunities to be on-air across a large part of the
day, hence building high levels of presence in the mind of the consumer. If an advert is missed in the newspaper
it is missed – if it is missed on the radio – it will be played again later increasing the chance of the target
customer hearing it.

Also, a business which has traditionally been advertised in print media can be brought to life on radio by giving
it a voice and tone, thus communicating with consumers in a much more multi-dimensional and richer way.
Active Ad Avoidance is less prevalent in radio. Unless the listener turns off or changes station (both of which
rarely happen as a result of hearing radio ads), he or she will be exposed to your advertising message so even
people who aren’t currently in the market for your product or service today are still getting some exposure to
your brand message for when they move into the market at some stage in the future.

Radio is an intimate medium, listened to generally by people on their own, often in personal spaces allowing the
advertisers to speak directly to the customer almost on a one-to-one basis. As such it operates on a much more
human level than media such as TV or posters, and listeners develop a strong trusting relationship with their
preferred stations.

People feel that the station they listen to is aimed at people like them, hence they are more likely to consider that
brands advertised on their station are for people like them.