Click here to view a 10-minute video of the key findings.

Click here to download a PDF of the slides.

The Cumulus Media | Westwood One Audio Active Group® recently commissioned two studies for an online gaming company running an AM/FM radio campaign in Westwood One’s NFL programming.

Key findings:

• Quantilope brand study: NFL AM/FM radio listeners are +109% more likely to be interested in online social games than those who don’t listen to the NFL.
• A wide variety of AM/FM radio programming formats reach those who are interested in online social games.
• AM/FM radio worked: AM/FM radio ad recall was +200% higher among those exposed to the online gaming company’s ads running in Westwood One NFL programming.
• AM/FM radio drives action: Exposed respondents are more likely to take action after hearing the online gaming website’s audio campaign.
• Claritas attribution study: The Claritas study is notable as it measured attribution of every aspect of the campaign: broadcast AM/FM radio, streaming AM/FM radio, and podcasts.
• The online gaming company’s Westwood One NFL audio campaign worked, delivering 390M impressions with cost per first purchase of $61; 75% of broadcast AM/FM radio’s attributable first purchase conversions are incremental.
• Football-themed creative performed best with a 22% lower cost per action ($62.08 vs. $79.05) and 30% fewer impressions per conversion. Creative that aligns with content matters: contextually relevant messaging significantly boosts conversion efficiency.

The NFL on Westwood One is a reach machine

For the 40th consecutive season, Westwood One is proud to be the exclusive network audio partner of the NFL. Westwood One broadcasts every 2026 Primetime Regular Season game, as well as the playoffs and Super Bowl LXI from Los Angeles. Across an entire season, Nielsen reveals the NFL on Westwood One reaches a staggering 64 million unique fans.

Key findings from the 2026 Westwood One NFL Listening Report:

The recently released Westwood One NFL listening study reveals five key benefits for marketers:

• More engaged: The sports listener is more passionate, giving audio commercials greater impact
• Mass reach: Buy deep in a game and long in the season to capture the massive 64 million reach
• Closest to the point of purchase: Reach busy on-the-go people whose “best available screen” is their in-car AM/FM radio
• Desirable consumers: Reach a young, employed, and upscale audience with greater spending power
• Makes your TV better: The NFL on Westwood One is an effective way to amplify reach and frequency of an NFL TV campaign

The studies measured campaign impact across AM/FM radio, podcasts, and streaming audio

A Quantilope brand study measured the brand effect of the online gaming company campaign. The online survey took place January 21-23, 2026 among 1,000 adults who were 21+. Respondents were asked about their brand perceptions and ad recall. The exposed group represented the 500 adults who listened to the NFL broadcast on Westwood One.

Separately, a Claritas attribution measurement study ran from September 4, 2025 through January 18, 2026. It measured two measures of campaign performance: attribution showed the number of consumers who were exposed to the ads and were then converted to web visits and incrementality, a calculation revealing the conversions that were caused by advertising.

For years advertisers have been clamoring to be able to see attribution across all different audio platforms. The Claritas study is notable as it measured attribution of every aspect of the campaign: broadcast AM/FM radio, streaming AM/FM radio and podcasts.

Quantilope brand study: NFL AM/FM radio listeners are +109% more likely to be interested in online social games than those who don’t listen to the NFL

The NFL on Westwood One is an ideal way to reach those who are interested in online gaming. Compared to those who were unexposed, Westwood One NFL listeners are +109% more likely to be interested in playing an online social game.

A wide variety of AM/FM radio programming formats reach those who are interested in online social games

AM/FM radio worked: The online gaming company’s AM/FM radio campaign outperformed for awareness, favorability, consideration, usage, and purchase

At every stage in the purchase funnel, those exposed to the AM/FM radio campaign on Westwood saw higher performance versus those unexposed. Aided awareness (+24), familiarity (+15), favorability (+20), and consideration (+22) outperformed the unexposed group by double digits.

Exposure to the campaign grew total ad awareness +120%

Compared to those who were unexposed to the campaign, the Westwood one NFL exposed group could recall hearing or seeing any of the online gaming company’s advertising to a significantly greater degree.

AM/FM radio ad recall was +200% higher among those exposed to the online gaming company’s ads running in Westwood One NFL programming

Exposed respondents found the online gaming company’s ad most relevant

Those exposed to the campaign found the online gaming company’s ad easy to understand, informative, entertaining, and relevant. The ad also set them apart from their competitors (+28 versus the unexposed) and respondents enjoyed hearing it more (+29).

AM/FM radio drives action: Exposed respondents are more likely to take action after hearing the online gaming website’s audio campaign

Versus those unexposed, consumers exposed to the online gaming company’s ads in Westwood One’s NFL programming were more likely to go online for more information, research online social gaming companies in general, read online reviews, play games on the online gaming company’s website, and tell their friends or family members about it.

How Claritas measures audio attribution for broadcast AM/FM radio, podcasts, and AM/FM radio streaming

For streaming and podcasts, Claritas places a pixel in the ad server. This connects the dots between consumers exposed to the ad and those that visit the advertiser website and make transactions.

For over-the-air broadcast AM/FM radio, Claritas informs its attribution model with exposure/visitation patterns from radio streaming studies. Claritas applies this visitation and conversions patterns to the over-the-air impressions generated via a Media Monitors feed of AM/FM radio ad occurrences.

Online gaming company audio campaign exposures

The majority of the NFL campaign ad exposures occurred via broadcast AM/FM radio. The remaining impressions came from digital audio including podcasts and AM/FM radio streaming.

Claritas attribution study: The online gaming company’s Westwood One audio campaign worked, driving first purchase conversions with an average cost per action of $80.40

With a cost per action of $61, broadcast AM/FM radio was most affordable, followed by streaming at $238 and podcasts at $1,000. One major factor drives that difference. AM/FM radio CPMs are far more affordable than streaming or podcasts.

Impressions per first purchase reveals how many impressions it takes on average to generate one conversion. It controls for the CPM differences across channels. When we look at the data using that metric, broadcast and streaming are very similar in performance. Both take around 60,000 impressions per conversion. Podcasts sit higher at about 75,000 impressions per conversion.

Broadcast AM/FM radio is the clear performance leader: 96% of first purchases at $60.87 CPA, 77.4% incrementality. It was rated “excellent” vs. Claritas broadcast efficiency norms.

Overall broadcast AM/FM radio campaign metrics: 75% of attributable first purchase conversions are incremental

75% of first purchase conversions, 6,126 out of 7,911, were determined to be incremental. This is compared to the Claritas benchmark of roughly 1 in 8.

Creative performance: Football-themed creative performed best

With 22% lower CPA ($62.08 vs. $79.05) and 30% fewer impressions per conversion, football-themed creative performed the best. The advantage was strongest in broadcast NFL ($52.87 vs. $69.72), confirming contextually relevant messaging significantly boosts conversion efficiency.

Key findings:

• Quantilope brand study: NFL AM/FM radio listeners are +109% more likely to be interested in online social games than those who don’t listen to the NFL.
• A wide variety of AM/FM radio programming formats reach those who are interested in online social games.
• AM/FM radio worked: AM/FM radio ad recall was +200% higher among those exposed to the online gaming company’s ads running in Westwood One NFL programming.
• AM/FM radio drives action: Exposed respondents are more likely to take action after hearing the online gaming website’s audio campaign.
• Claritas attribution study: The Claritas study is notable as it measured attribution of every aspect of the campaign: broadcast AM/FM radio, streaming AM/FM radio, and podcasts.
• The online gaming company’s Westwood One NFL audio campaign worked, delivering 390M impressions with cost per first purchase of $61; 75% of broadcast AM/FM radio’s attributable first purchase conversions are incremental.
• Football-themed creative performed best with a 22% lower cost per action ($62.08 vs. $79.05) and 30% fewer impressions per conversion. Creative that aligns with content matters: contextually relevant messaging significantly boosts conversion efficiency.

Click here to view a 10-minute video of the key findings.

Pierre Bouvard is Chief Insights Officer of the Cumulus Media | Westwood One Audio Active Group^®.

Contact the Insights team at CorpMarketing@westwoodone.com.