January 11, 2023
Radio
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Research on the effectiveness of radio advertising by Gazprom-Media Sales House
The research methodology was developed in partnership with the research company Kantar
The Sales House has already conducted a large-scale study on the effectiveness of TV sponsorship with Kantar. This year, the companies continued their cooperation to solve a new industrial task.
Radio remains a sought-after media channel among advertisers. However, in the current Russian market there is a pronounced deficit of open data on the effectiveness of this communication channel with consumers.
Since 2020, Gazprom-Media Sales House has been independently selling advertising on the radio stations within the Holding (Autoradio, Relax FM, Like FM, Radio Energy, Radio Romantika, Humor FM, Detskoe Radio, Comedy Radio, Radio Zenit). In this regard, the company has initiated a research on the effectiveness of radio advertising.
Prior to commencing the research, the Sales House and the research company Kantar had formulated key hypotheses, which were tested during their collaborative effort.
Research hypotheses:
- 1 Radio is an effective media channel for the advertisers.
- 2 A media mix of TV+Radio demonstrates a high level of effectiveness.
- 3 Radio advertising stimulates purchase decisions (Call-to-Action).
The research was conducted across three product categories:
- FMCG (Pet Food),
- Finance (Banks),
- Real estate (Developers).
Research methodology
The methodology was developed by Kantar in cooperation with Gazprom-Media Sales House and was specifically designed for this research. It was conducted in October 2020 across Russia (in cities with a population of 100,000 or more), in the format of online interviews. 1,500 respondents were surveyed.
The survey included two stages involving both control and test groups. The control group was interviewed without exposure to any advertising content, while the test group listened to an advertising block and rated its content.
In the first phase, test group respondents were given access to the content of radio and TV broadcast fragments with an integrated advertising block. After viewing and listening, the respondents answered a specific block of questions. The respondents from the control group did not receive any access to the content.
In the second phase, three days later, the respondents were asked additional brand-related questions to aid in evaluating the effectiveness of a TV and radio advertising campaign.
In addition, the research utilized Kantar’s proprietary Clickstream \[1] panel data, which enabled the analysis of respondents’ web behavior following exposure to radio advertising in the finance and real estate categories. The data also made it possible to evaluate the conversion rates of the brands’ websites mentioned in the radio advertisements. The selected set of measures made it possible to evaluate the effectiveness of TV and radio impact individually, as well as in the joint TV+Radio media mix.
The selected set of measures made it possible to evaluate the effectiveness of TV and radio impact individually, as well as in the joint TV+Radio media mix.
Research findings
Radio has proven to be effective for the FMCG category
Radio has traditionally been the advertising platform of choice for automotive brands, pharmaceutical companies, and the banking sector, while FMCG advertisers are less likely to use audio in their campaigns.
Source: Gazprom-Media Radio (GPMR), segment share in placement, January—November 2020
According to an international study by Nielsen, radio not only generates brand awareness, but also demonstrates a high ROI rate of 1:3 (1 dollar invested in advertising brings an average of 3 dollars in sales) for FMCG brands \[2].
n our research, measurements of an FMCG brand (a major pet food manufacturer) were conducted for TV and radio. This approach made it possible to determine the effectiveness of radio advertising and identify the synergy between the two media.
The results have shown that radio advertising not only contributes to awareness building, increased spontaneous (unprompted) and prompted knowledge (+14%) of the listeners, but also to the intention to recommend an FMCG brand for purchase (+15%).
The results have also demonstrated that radio ads are no less effective than TV advertising. Radio advertising is noticed by 77% of listeners and is tolerated by more than 80% of them. 68% of listeners remain tuned to the radio station and do not switch over during a commercial break.
Source: Effectiveness of radio advertising. Kantar research commissioned by Gazprom-Media Sales House. October 2020
68% of listeners remain tuned to the radio station and do not switch over during a commercial break.
A TV+Radio mix increases brand awareness and helps to build brand image
In addition to its own effectiveness, radio enhances the impact of TV advertising on key brand metrics.
Based on the data obtained from the research conducted by Kantar and Gazprom-Media Sales House, it can be asserted that the TV+Radio mix has a positive impact on brand awareness, brand image building, and effectively delivers the key message to the consumer. The impact turns most effective if the advertising is adapted for radio broadcasting.
Source: Effectiveness of radio advertising. Kantar research commissioned by Gazprom-Media Sales House. October 2020
Radio advertising motivates purchases
According to international research, radio advertising generates online traffic and contributes to brand sales growth \[3]. According to the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB), radio advertising increases the number of Google searches for a brand by 30%\[4].
For the financial and real estate categories, it was important for the researches to track the respondents’ web activity following their exposure to the radio ad.
The research in the finance category has demonstrated the following:
- Following exposure to the radio advertisements, 30% of the respondents visited the website or searched for the tested category on the web.
- 14% of the respondents expressed interest in the advertised bank’s product or other related products. [5]
A similar dynamic was observed in the real estate category:
- 35% of the respondents visited either the developer’s website or the real estate aggregator website.
In addition, the radio campaign helped maintain the brands’ key image metrics.
The results obtained correlate with the set of general questions in which the respondents were asked the following question:
What do you usually do when you hear a radio advertisement that sparks your interest?
31% of the respondents said they use search engines to find information about the brand they learned about from radio ads that piqued their interest, and 19% go directly to the brand’s website to take targeted action.
Source: Effectiveness of radio advertising. Kantar research commissioned by Gazprom-Media Sales House. October 2020
Thus, we can confirm the thesis that radio advertising stimulates purchase decisions.
Conclusions
The project team has successfully confirmed the previously stated hypotheses and also obtained unique data that is specific to the Russian advertising market:
- 1 Radio advertising for the FMCG category is no less effective than TV advertising.
- 2 The TV+Radio media mix has a positive impact on key brand metrics.
- 3 Within the framework of the research, radio advertising attracted attention to the brands and improved their image.
- 4 Radio advertising helps generate website traffic.
[1] Clickstream belongs to observation methods and can be used to analyze web behavior on desktop devices.
[5] Users with clickstream data who visited bank websites/searched the web for bank-related topics, over September—October 2020, N=140. Conversion rate was measured over a two-week period after the branded radio advertisement was presented to the respondent.
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