Clearly, we are going to talk about radio advertising, but here is a question for you, two questions in fact, firstly, have you heard of Sky, McDonald’s or BT?
Second question. What do those three companies have in common?
Okay, we admit it, the first question was intentionally leading you down a path. Of course you will have heard of them. The most important question was what they have in common. The answer is where they advertise.
You see, even the biggest names in the world, the biggest businesses, even those not mentioned, feel the need to advertise. That’s how you grow. But in terms of what connects the three we mentioned, the answer is radio.
Sky, McDonald’s, and BT are the biggest advertisers on radio in the UK. We could throw in a few other names by the way, British Gas, Talktalk, Vauxhall, for example, but let us stick with the top, for now.
Sky has actually increase radio ad spend, going from third place in 2021, to first place last year, an increase of 9.5% to almost 20 million pounds.
McDonald’s by the way, has been consistent in their radio ad spend, maintaining their position in the top 3 for some time.
Advertising has not only been fruitful for business, but it has also been of huge value to the broadcasters too. One significant change in the UK last year was a significant drop in spend by Government, no longer broadcasting Covid messages. This alone saw a drop in ad spend of around 60%, as the Government reduced their budget from just over 26 million in 2021 to just over 10 million last year. Despite that, commercial radio advertising revenue reached the highest amount ever recorded, with revenue of 740 million.
The clear reason for this record growth is that more businesses, big and small, are seeing the value in radio advertising, with a wider reach, and greater return, than many other platforms.
In terms of reach, brands that use radio grow their market share four times faster than any other medium, with a 49% uplift in awareness, 32% uplift in trust, and 24% increase in relevance.
In addition, radio advertising provides more efficiency and highest impact per pound spent than any other platform, more than two and a half times the impact of second place, outdoor advertising, which is slightly ahead of social media, and that in turn slightly ahead of newspaper.
In conclusion, if you want to get ahead, beat the competition, raise brand awareness, and, ultimately, sales, you really do need radio advertising as part of your marketing mix.
All data is provided by Media Leader, Mediatel, Radiocentre, and Big Audio Datamine.