Study: Audio Ads Deliver Solid Brand Recall, Cost Efficiency

by Fern Siegel , October 24, 2023

Buying radio is often seen as a secondary adoption, securing just 9% of ad dollars, according to WARC. Many media insiders regard it as less effective in driving sales. However, new research indicates audio deserves respect — and another chance.

New studies by dentsu and Lumen Research measured various audio formats and environments. A study released by dentsu in August found audio advertising (including podcasts, radio, and music streaming) drove significant attention, compared to other ad platforms. On average, 41% of audio ads generated correct brand recall compared to the 38% norm for other ads.

Radio was the most cost-efficient media platform in driving attention cost per thousand impressions (aCPM). Compared to the average online video ads measured through dentsu’s Attention Economy, the aCPM for radio is 10-times more efficient, per dentsu.

In addition, a Neustar study showed investing ad monies in audio would increase brands’ return on audio ad spend by as much as 23%.

Such results have agencies rethinking how to make audio drive business revenue.

Graham Langosch, vice president, national audio practice at Publicis Media Exchange, told Inside Radio: “We've seen recent studies over the past year that show audio delivers results on par, or better, than other media types across the entire funnel in driving awareness and consideration, as well as some of those lower-funnel conversion metrics.”

Other agencies, including Carat USA and Horizon Media, have been touting audio, according to the trade pub. Langosch called it an “engaged and attentive medium” at an Advertising Week webinar.

Also, with some streaming channels ad-free, advertisers are finding streaming audio a valuable venue to reach audiences, specifically in podcasts. Researchers found brand choice uplift was higher for host-read ads vs. traditional audio ads within podcasts.

Diana Anderson, senior vice president, group director, national audio activation, Carat USA, said her team appreciated the “unique strengths of different audio destinations.”

Ad spending in the traditional audio ad market is projected to reach $12.7 billion in 2023, while ad spending in the digital audio ad market is projected to reach $5.87 billion, according to Statista.

advertising, audio, podcasts, radio, study

2 comments about "Study: Audio Ads Deliver Solid Brand Recall, Cost Efficiency".

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Gabriel Greenberg from Octillion, October 25, 2023 at 9:25 a.m.
At Ocillion we see streaming audio performs best when paired with retargeting and streaming TV (CTV) and it is consistently a top performing channel
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Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, October 26, 2023 at 10:05 a.m.

As far back as the early 1960s the short lived major agency computer -based "media selection" models were showing that radio ---as well as out of home billboards and page 4-color ads in magazines were far superior to most forms of TV in terms of effective ad exposures relative to CPMs. And radio has been making that same pitch ever since. Unfortunately that alone isn't enough. Many other variables are at play and so far radio has not been able to address the many other issues that underlie TV's assumed strengths---and radio's assumed weaknesses. The new audio kid on the block ---podcasts----will soon run up against some of the same problems. But for now, it's ad revenue growth is encouraging--so we shall see what happens when podcasts go after the big , national TV brands----- not mostly smaller, more selectively targeted advertisers.