Why Media Buyers Love Radio

It's not overly expensive. It's targetable. Media buyers like it.

September 21, 2015

By the editors of Media Life

This is one in an ongoing series on radio for media planners and buyers titled “The new face of radio in America” that examines the changes sweeping through the industry and how the medium is evolving.

When it comes to radio, it’s just different.

People watch television. They read newspapers and magazines. But they engage with radio. They connect.

Radio is personal.

People put stations’ bumper stickers on their cars: 93.3 WMMR, Philadelphia’s home of rock ‘n roll; KNAC Pure Rock 105.5.

“Ever seen that for a newspaper or TV station?” asks Gordon Borrell, of Borrell Associates, which tracks local advertising.

Indeed, radio defines what it mean to be a local medium, more so than newspapers, more so than TV.

And it could not be a better time. Radio is uniquely positioned to reap major gains in the great and protracted shakeout going on in local media markets.

But pulling it off will be no small challenge.

Local radio has been severely hurt by cutbacks in recent years, the result of consolidation that has left a handful of industry giants. Media buyers complain about the decline of local on-air talent and the rise of syndicated shows.

Local radio needs to be rebuilt.

Can it be done? What will it take? Who will do it?

These are questions Media Life will set out to answer in this ongoing series.

But in the meantime here are seven things working in radio’s favor. These are culled from surveys and interviews with media buyers and other sources.

1. Radio is comparatively inexpensive. CPMs average $13.50, well below the cost of newspapers at $32.50 and primetime network TV at $24.76. (NOTE US ESTIMATES)

2. Radio is targetable in a way neither TV nor newspapers are. Each genre comes with a unique audience.

3. Radio is easy to buy. Buyers say radio is much easier to buy than newspapers and out of home.

4. Radio is held in high regard by media buyers in terms of cost, targeting and overall effectiveness—higher, in fact, than any other medium except digital.

5. Radio looks better and better as other media suffer.

In the old order, it was newspapers, TV, then radio, and each operated in a silo, with their own sets of advertisers.

Two things happened. First, local newspapers took a beating, their revenues slashed by more than half.

That’s created opportunities for other media. Radio can only gain.

Two, the silos are gone. Local markets are now wide open and highly competitive. Advertisers are a lot more sophisticated. Radio can make its case to a much larger group of advertisers.

6. Radio is a community medium. DJs show up at fairs, street festivals, parades and wherever crowds gather. They entertain.

In many communities, radio is the only locally produced entertainment available, as Borrell notes. From this you get the bumper stickers and a sense of belonging that so defines community.

7. Radio is social. “They’re the original social media,” says Borrell. Radio stations bring people together. They get them talking.

“They have great opportunities to create strong networks around their genres,” Borrell says, “whether it’s rock and roll, country, classical, sports talk, left-wing political, hip-hop, etc.”

Radio has two other things going for it, and they are closely related.

One is the rebirth of downtowns across the country. People are moving back in, particularly older people, selling their homes in the suburbs for city living, and the big draw is new restaurants, shopping and endless events.

This rebirth of downtown communities creates a perfect climate for local radio.

Related is explosive growth of local enterprise, from farm-to-table agriculture to craft breweries and bakeries, and the market for their goods.

Troy Weston | Account Manager

Bell Media | t 416.384.4846 | m 416.560.2370 | troy.weston@bellmedia.ca 260 Richmond St W Toronto, ON M5V 1W5 Canada