Marketing Insight: Radio vs. Digital Audio

Which Fits Best With Your Existing Strategy?

Local Radio Advertising

Terrestrial radio accounted for 87% of ad-supported in-car listening, with 40% of that during peak commuting times (Monday to Friday 6 AM-10 AM & 3 PM-7 PM), indicating a loyal audience at this time. Radio will likely sustain this high listening share among drivers due to further development of the "car as an entertainment platform". However, in terms of reliability, commuter time slots with a predictable number of listeners can be among the highest-priced compared to those less predictable times.

Finding Your Audience

To determine the demographic, some radio stations have examined their listener profiles to determine specific information, but many rely on the general demographic that matches their station type. For example, those targeting several age groups would need to advertise with a pop station to reach those under 35 and an oldies station to reach those over 55.

Lead Generation

Radio stations typically have the resources to create an audio ad in-house, bringing years of experience to the table. However, without direct access to track leads, other methods are required to obtain detailed results, such as implementing promo codes, custom URLs, trackable phone numbers, or landing pages shared only from the radio ad. Only choosing a few of these is recommended to avoid excessive additional costs.

Determining Success

Determining the success of a radio ad is dependent on the chosen tracking method. Some stations may provide the number of listeners during a purchased time slot, but these numbers typically will not be received until after the campaign. Therefore, implementing additional methods will provide the most effective measurements for the ongoing monitoring of results.

Digital Audio Advertising

Audio streaming services are most suited for those looking to break through to younger generations and access the growing number of older consumers adopting this listening method. This is shown with 83% of those 16 to 24 years old regularly streaming. Streaming is also beginning to increase in older generations, with 53% of those 45 to 54 years old having streamed music on a digital platform such as Spotify or Pandora.

Finding Your Audience

Digital audio ads can target a broader or tighter audience than ever before. These services create access to local and national target audiences by targeting zip codes, cities, states, and designated metro areas or the entire country. Other targeting factors can be chosen among locations, such as age ranges, gender, and language.

Lead Generation

Audio recordings with an image or video, allowing for a call-to-action button directed to a clickthrough URL link, serve as the primary source of lead generation. Other tracking methods can also be implemented to ensure that an offer can be revisited. To create the ad, the advertiser chooses a voice actor by age/gender and tone of voice directly on the platform.  

Determining Success

Both during and following the delivery of the campaign, results will be available to provide the option to revise an ad based on current performance. Advanced reporting options built directly into these platforms can break down results to determine the number of listeners reached, their demographics, and how users interacted.

The Conclusion

Community-based financial institutions with long-standing relationships with their local radio station and effective methods of reaching their audience should keep ahold of those relationships to remain active in the community. However, they should also take a step back and see where digital audio advertising can complement positive results and further organizational reach among a broader scope of age groups, specifically among millennials and Gen-Z, with one easily tracked ad. 

Those who may not have a successful radio strategy or relationship with their local station(s) should consider shifting into the digital audio advertising space using platforms like Spotify and Audiogo's Podcast Advertising. These platforms open the door to enhanced technology that provides an accurate demonstration of results across a wider geographic area to start reaching a customized audience from the start with the ability to adapt to results in real-time.

Ready to kick off a digital audio or radio campaign? Strategis is a full-service marketing agency developing strategies proven to increase the (ROI) through a wide range of methods. 

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