9th January 2020
Post by Sheridan Hill
As we enter a new year and an entirely new decade, it's a good time to revisit radio's place in the media mix.
With the wider media industry in a state of flux - and commercial radio now reaching 3.3 million New Zealanders (76%) each week - we think now is a great time for a refresher on the ins and outs of the channel.
Read on for the top six things we think makes radio great…
According to a UK study, over 53% of audiences listen to the radio alone. Listening to radio announcers for many then feels like a conversation with a friend.
This is mirrored in the on air studio and even radio training schools, with Content Directors hammering home the ideology that DJ's should speak as if they're talking to just one person.
Add to this the fact that Kiwi audiences listen to an average of 16 hours and 27 minutes of commercial radio a week and you've got one hell of a trusted companion.
For advertisers, aligning your brand with a radio station facilitates credibility. This is the reason radio is often referred to as the original influencer.
New Zealand has more frequencies per capita than any other country in the world. We've got major networks targeting mainstream audiences in every age bracket and independent stations reaching diverse cultures and Kiwis from every corner of life.
By pairing the right station and location, drilling into the day part when your audience is making purchasing decisions, nailing the frequency of messaging and layering in tailored audio creative, you’re lined up for a bullseye to your potential customer.
If segmenting audiences all sounds a bit too complex, TRB’s planning team can help to navigate the noise.
Or, you can choose to target your campaign to a wider group. We have 3.3 million listeners after all.
79% of Kiwis listen to the radio in the car. Aside from negotiating New Zealand’s congested roads, radio essentially has the driver’s undivided attention.
Combine this with the communal workplace radio, streaming the same station all day, and you’ve got an extremely low level of ad avoidance.
There is no ad blocker for radio, you can’t fast forward, nor can you pay a monthly fee to skip ad breaks (like some streaming services).
Chances are, if your advertising message is on air, audiences will hear it. This in turn translates to much less wastage in your marketing budget.
You may have heard radio referred to as a frequency medium. This isn’t about the number you tune your dial to, rather the amount of times you need to be heard in order to be remembered.
Repetition is the way we learn anything, so it makes sense that advertising is no different. The higher the frequency of your campaign, the more likely audiences are to have your brand top of mind.
However, there is a fine line between too few and too many ads, so it helps to have an experienced planner (like the team at TRB) working on your schedule.
With modern audiences consuming more media than ever before, it’s important to find an integrated mix that best suits your campaign objectives. Radio can be key addition to amplify the reach of most other media.
A Colmar Brunton ROI study found radio to be the only platform that consistently increased ROI when added to other media.
They noted that radio and online was the strongest two platform media mix, with an average ROI of almost three times the combination of television and online.
Radio drives a strong response – and we don’t just mean talk back listeners calling in to share their political views.
Eight out of ten people in a Katz Radio Group study said they would consider trying something that their favourite radio announcer recommended. Similarly, audiences in a Colmar Brunton study were six times more likely to visit a brand’s website after hearing their radio advertising.
Check out the case studies section on our website for local examples of how radio drives a range of responses.
Sources:
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