Marketron

Radio’s Amazing Numbers

Author: Annette Malave, SVP/Insights, RAB

Radio is an extension of every part of us.  It’s our ears that listen. It’s our fingers that touch the dial or app.  It’s our eyes when we want to know the traffic.  It’s our heart when we hear the songs that we grew up with, and it’s our soul when we hear of any devastation in a local community.

Radio is an incredible force and impacts listeners like no other medium does. A look at some of the figures that pertain to radio helps to both quantify and qualify radio as a powerful medium.

Continue reading “Radio’s Amazing Numbers”

Legal Woes? Radio Drives
Legal Services Search

Author: Annette Malave, SVP/Insights, RAB

There are certain times in life when you need an advisor — someone that can provide you with counsel.  How do you find this type of person that can provide you with this service?  Advertising a service can be difficult because you need to drive awareness, influence behavior and develop trust.

Continue reading “Legal Woes? Radio Drives
Legal Services Search”

Radio Drives Fine Jewelry
Retailer Search

Author: Annette Malave, SVP/Insights, RAB

Diamonds. Pearls. Rings.  Considered fine jewelry, these are all items that are purchased or gifted by many regardless of age group – yes, even watches.  According to Scarborough data, 93% of adults 18+ purchased fine jewelry in the past year.

Like other industries, the jewelry industry is experiencing changes in how consumers shop for fine jewelry.  Technology allows consumers to self-educate and research via various platforms and technologies.  While national jewelry retailers are an important source for fine jewelry purchases, local stores and department stores are tied as the second most-used locations, according to National Jeweler.

Continue reading “Radio Drives Fine Jewelry
Retailer Search”

Radio Drives Restaurant Search

Author: Annette Malave, SVP/Insights, RAB

Food is fabulous!  And it’s even better when someone else prepares it and serves it to you – whether it is in a casual dining establishment, white tablecloth restaurant or even in a to-go bag.

The restaurant industry has undergone vast changes to meet the expectations of consumers.  They seek out unique foods and concepts that are authentic – in both flavor and experience.  They also expect healthy options that will delight the inner foodie in them.

Studies have shown that words and sounds (especially those related to food) can bring imagery to mind – one of radio’s many strengths.  And when you use any of these words or similar tactics within a radio commercial, radio drives restaurant search.

Continue reading “Radio Drives Restaurant Search”

Buying Attitudes of Radio Listeners
and Streamers

Author: Annette Malave, SVP/Insights, RAB

Holiday shopping is in full swing.  According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), over 165 million consumers shopped online from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday.  When it comes to spending, 77% of consumers will spend the same or more this year than last, based on another NRF survey.

With all this news about shopping, we thought it might be interesting to look at the overall buying habits and attitudes of AM/FM radio and streaming listeners.

Continue reading “Buying Attitudes of Radio Listeners
and Streamers”

Radio on Main Street Podcast Featuring Kip Cassino, Executive Vice President of Borrell Associates.

Election day 2018 is about eight weeks away and while it is not a presidential election there are many state and local races that will be decided.

In this edition, Erica Farber, President and CEO of the RAB speaks with Kip Cassino, Executive Vice President of Borrell Associates. Borrell Associates recently updated their forecast for political media spending by media choice with their forecast for radio showing modest growth from their original April forecast.

With less than one-third of the 8.9 billion of political dollars yet to be spent this year, Kip shares his advice as to how radio can compete for a larger share of the available dollars and how important it is for radio to make the case that radio is local.

5 Facts and Radio

Author: Annette Malave, SVP/Insights, RAB

Over 247 million.  That’s a great number.  It’s the number of people that listen to radio every week.  It is the top reach medium – touching more people every week than any other medium or device.  This is something that we in the radio industry know.

Continue reading “5 Facts and Radio”

Radio on Main Street Podcast Featuring Tina Murley, Director of Sales for the Beasley Media Group in Boston.

Having success in growing revenue all starts with relationships, being a true partner for your clients.

In this edition, Erica Farber, President and CEO of the RAB speaks with Tina Murley, Director of Sales for the Beasley Media Group in Boston. Tina is focused on creating a culture for her sales team of saying “yes” to their clients and potential clients. She empowers, provides the tools and helps her sellers find a way to just get it done.

She believes that digital is the future and because radio offers integrated local solutions, it’s is the perfect partner for advertisers.

Radio Delivers Experiences

Author: Annette Malave, SVP/Insights, RAB

Of all generations, millennials have had the greatest influence on the advertising and marketing world.  Their views and opinions and how they communicate amongst each other shifted how advertiser brands engage with them. According to an early study conducted by Harris and Eventbrite, millennials would choose to spend money on experiences versus things and the greater majority had participated in live events in the past year – like concerts, festivals, themed sports, etc.

While millennials, as a target audience, may have been a catalyst to the growth of event/experiential, it is now an important component of many brands’ marketing campaigns – regardless of age groups.  Marketers will spend nearly 21% of their overall budgets on event/experiential in 2018 compared to 19% in 2017, according to a 2018 report by Event Marketer.

Continue reading “Radio Delivers Experiences”

Radio on Main Street Podcast Featuring Bill McElveen, Executive Vice President of the Eastern Region for Alpha Media

In this edition, Erica Farber, President and CEO of the RAB, speaks with Bill McElveen, Executive Vice President of the Eastern Region for Alpha Media.  One of the many strengths of local radio is the difference it makes in a person’s life. It is truly the voice of the local community.

Listen as they discuss the state of local broadcasting, the importance of creating remarkable content and the need for the industry to focus on creating value for the advertiser.

In the Age of Outcome, Radio Has Some Great Stories to Tell

Author: Tammy Greenberg, SVP Business Development, RAB

At a recent MediaPost conference, one of the panelists responded to a question posed to him by stating that we have left the “exposure age” and we are now in the “age of outcome.” He further expressed his opinion that marketers, agencies and all media must continue to evolve to measure outcome in robust, transparent, statistically significant ways.

Data helps us reveal insights and craft stories of real outcome that enable advertisers to create relevant messaging for their audiences – messaging that will ultimately equate to high value touches with their consumers.

Continue reading “In the Age of Outcome, Radio Has Some Great Stories to Tell”

Radio: Still the One

There is little doubt that we are in a golden age of media overall, as content is available everywhere and across all devices.  Yet, according to Nielsen’s second quarter 2017 Comparable Metrics Report, radio remains the top way to reach consumers across all media platforms – 93% A18+. And radio also provides advertisers with effective digital opportunities to compliment and extend its large over-the-air audience. Such as: streaming, on-demand podcasts, HD radio, NextRadio, and pure plays… the list continues to expand. Radio’s social media websites provide advertisers with new ways to relate to the enthusiastic radio audience. As smart marketers, we must look ahead to understand these drivers of change and signals of progress to navigate forward. The media landscape is vast, complex with technology changing the way consumer’s engage with media and radio remains the best way to reach consumers across demographics.

Continue reading “Radio: Still the One”

Local Radio Reigns Supreme

Earlier this month, the Los Angeles Times reported on the shuttering of a chain of Eastside community newspapers. One article even went so far as to say, “Local and regional newspapers that serve Southern California are going through tough times, leading some to question whether traditional newspapers can survive.” Radio has always been there – now it is even more valuable! The importance of local radio to the local community can’t be understated.

The challenge for local Newspapers has been how to sustain a newsroom and make a profit when print advertising is fleeing to lower-cost space on the Internet.  Most digital ads are concentrated on Facebook and Google, not newspaper websites. These two Internet giants take in 60 percent of online ad revenues.

Radio was shown as the most trusted platform used after the impact of hearing about “fake news” in political coverage.  See below for the Kantar “Trust in News” study where it was revealed ‘mainstream news media’s’ reputation remained largely intact while social media and digital-only news platforms sustained major reputation damage. In addition, Facebook and other digital platforms are not designed to promote civic connection, but rather communities of interest often unmoored from particular geographies.

Continue reading “Local Radio Reigns Supreme”

Radio: Consumers’ Weekly Leader


2018 is now in full swing, and with so many retrospective articles across publications it is also a great time to take a new look at media comparisons. 2017 seemed to be the year for digital and social media as seen in so many articles.

However, figures in other research publications and newsletters painted a very different image.

Continue reading “Radio: Consumers’ Weekly Leader”

2017 – It’s Been An Incredible Year

It’s incredible to believe that 2017 is coming to a close.  The year just seemed to fly by.

There were so many events that took place around the world this past year and many of these events left a mark in the world of pop culture.  Similar to events that shaped pop culture, there were events that shaped and influenced how radio is perceived. Continue reading “2017 – It’s Been An Incredible Year”

Reaching the Auto Buyer

The automotive industry is anticipated to see a slight uptick at the end of 2017.  Although October was slightly down, end-of-year incentives should provide a boost to November and December.

However, it’s not just about incentives.  Auto buying intenders are well educated prior to entering any dealerships.  The question is how do you reach them?  And when you do reach them, you need to understand their auto buying and auto servicing preferences as well as their radio listening habits.

Continue reading “Reaching the Auto Buyer”

Radio on Main Street Podcast Featuring Andrew Curran, President & COO of
DMR Interactive

In this edition, Erica Farber, President and CEO of the RAB speaks with Andrew Curran, President & COO of DMR Interactive. The company focuses on developing performance driven marketing campaigns for broadcasters and in doing so they look at what drives radio consumption.

In this podcast they discuss a key driver of radio’s audience which is employment and that opens up a lot of possibilities for both the content side and the revenue side.

Radio – A Medium for All Seasons

With the arrival of Fall, a shift began.  Stores have long been prepped displaying décor for fall holidays and Halloween.  Sadly, it is just a matter of time before holiday ornaments and decorations are available for purchase as well.

Although some of the things that people do may change with the start of new seasons, there are other things that won’t – like listening to the radio.

Continue reading “Radio – A Medium for All Seasons”

Radio speaks to the “Middle Child”

Whether you read ad industry trades, online or print news, there are always articles referencing millennial influences or changes impacting boomers. However, there is very little attention paid to Generation X, which Pew Research referred to as the ‘middle child’ in a 2014 article. Sandwiched between two larger generations, Gen Xers who in 2017 are somewhere between the ages of 38-52, are a much smaller group in size and therefore are often overlooked by marketers.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Generation X spends more per household annually than any other generation – approximately $67K which is almost $20K more than what millennials spend. Additionally, they have the highest household income compared to the other generations.

So how do you reach this often over-looked and valuable generation? With broadcast radio — of course.

Continue reading “Radio speaks to the “Middle Child””