Two new pieces of research from the UK and Australia gives new insights into the effectiveness of radio advertising.

Britain’s Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) found that radio delivered a highly engaged audience who were the most receptive to advertising messages, and most likely to take action in response to advertising.

Brands using radio got their money back nearly eight times over on average, and in many sectors, radio offered the best ROI of any media.

When radio was used in conjunction with other media, such as online, radio enhanced the advertising environment and improved the likelihood of response.

Radio also offered the most cost effective opportunity to reach consumers in a positive frame of mind when they are more receptive to advertising messages.

RAB commissioned Holmes & Cook to study over 2,000 individual media campaigns with data supplied by nine econometric firms representing all major advertising agencies.

The reports goes on to suggest that advertisers should:

• increase the share of spend on radio to around 20 percent, subject to media mix;
• maximise radio weekly audience coverage (rather than optimising frequency);
• leveraging effective creative components (stand-out; brand-fit; clarity) within the execution of their campaigns.

Separate research, conducted by industry body Commercial Radio Australia, also found that radio audiences are more open to advertising than those consuming any other media.

Data suggests that radio advertising positively and significantly influences search and buying among listeners.

Similarly, it found that relative to other media, when people listen to radio, they are more likely to be in a positive mood which enhances their receptiveness to advertising.

The main findings of the Australian research were presented at last month’s National Radio Conference.

It also uncovered strong misconceptions about radio advertising and blamed a lack of experienced radio sales staff for not challenging the inaccuracies among agencies and potential clients.

The full report will be released early next year.