92% of adults in America today listen to radio each week according to Nielsen’s Q3 2018 survey. That’s more than twice the audience reach of streaming audio on smartphones, it’s almost five times the audience reach of podcasts, and virtually six times the audience reach of satellite radio.
Yes, there’s more competition for the ear than ever before, but broadcast radio is the load bearing wall of audio media.
A load bearing wall in a building is the one wall you can’t take down without having the entire structure collapse. And so, it is with REACH via the medium of radio. If your advertising buy doesn’t include radio, you’re missing the masses with your message.
Radio #1 in Reach
REACH, for the advertiser, has never been more important. Radio’s 92% audience reach of adults in America is unchanged year-over-year and that’s a statistic worth shouting about, especially with huge losses in audience reach of television and newspapers.
Radio’s ability to deliver the masses is why Proctor & Gamble has returned to radio as a major advertiser since the summer of 2017. Over the course of the year in 2018, P&G virtually tripled its radio advertising. 2019 could see P&G become radio’s biggest advertiser.
Today’s Radio
Stuart Burkhoff is the Senior Director of Media Strategy and Planning for Altice USA (4th largest cable provider in the US). Here’s why radio is important to him, using a clever acronym called RADIO, which stands for:
Relevant
Authentic
Delivery
Impact
Original
Radio is relevant for all kinds of people, whether they want sports, news or entertainment. Radio has authenticity with listeners because of its radio personalities who are stars in their communities and have earned their love and trust. Radio delivers an advertiser’s message with impact, and radio is the original, it’s the audio medium that’s been around for almost a hundred years and still works. In fact, radio may be entering its finest hour.