Click here to view a 12-minute video of the key findings.

New research from Nielsen shows why a blend of digital ad platforms and AM/FM radio is one of the most powerful combinations in media. Some of the largest studies ever conducted on advertising effectiveness have found as the number of media platforms utilized increases, effectiveness and sales effect grow.

Advertising Research Foundation: Spending across multiple platforms delivers greater ROI than any single platform

How Advertising Works from the Advertising Research Foundation is one of the most significant and monumental studies ever conducted on advertising effectiveness. The massive study was based on over 5,000 campaigns totaling 12 years of data and $375 billion in advertising spend in 41 countries across over 100 categories.

How Advertising Works found the greater the number of advertising platforms, the greater the return on advertising spend:

• Ad campaigns with two media platforms generated +19% more return on advertising spend compared to media plans with one platform
• Campaigns with three platforms result in +23% greater ROI than media plans with one platform
• Campaigns with four media platforms grew +31% more ROI than media plans with one platform
• Campaigns with five media platforms result in +35% more ROI than media plans with one platform

World Advertising Research Center (WARC): The greater the number of media platforms, the greater the marketing effectiveness

The Effectiveness Code, a major study from WARC, one of the leading global organizations that devotes itself to the study of marketing effectiveness, was conducted by Peter Field and James Hurman. The study analyzed close to 5,000 effectiveness award entrants and winners from 2011 through 2019, sourced from the Cannes Creative Effectiveness Lions database (1,031 cases), WARC’s database (3,616), and the IPA databank (216), and uncovered a new principle of effectiveness.

Hurman and Field discovered that marketing effectiveness is heavily influenced by a campaign’s ‘creative commitment,’ a composite measure of media budget, duration, and number of media channels applied. Like the Advertising Research Foundation study, The Effectiveness Code found the greater the number of media channels used, the greater the effectiveness.

Campaigns with 5-7 media platforms generate +10% greater effectiveness than media plans with one to four media platforms. 8-10 media platforms result in a +13% greater lift in effectiveness. Campaigns with 11-13 media platforms result in +30% more effectiveness.

Nielsen: Reach is the strongest media sales driver and the foundation of media effectiveness

To round out the trifecta of major industry studies on marketing effectiveness, look no further than Nielsen’s Five Keys to Advertising Effectiveness.

After creative, reach is the strongest media driver of sales effect. Nielsen found 22% of sales lift was generated by reach. Interestingly, reach trumps targeting in sales effect 22% to 9%.

The key to growing impact is to increase campaign reach. The way to grow reach in the media plan is adding media platforms.

Nielsen Scarborough: Digital and AM/FM radio work so well together because their audience profile is very similar

An examination of the socioeconomic profile of heavy Internet users and heavy AM/FM radio listeners finds many similarities. AM/FM radio and digital share very similar profiles for employment, presence of children, income, and age profile.

Compared to heavy TV viewers, heavy AM/FM radio listeners are younger, in larger households, more affluent, more employed, and are bigger users of social media. AM/FM radio and digital work so well together because of their similar audience profiles.

Campaign reach grows +13% to +20% when digital (online video and social) is added to an AM/FM radio plan

Nielsen Commspoint, the media planning platform, examined four types of AM/FM radio campaigns – small, medium, large, and very large. For each of the four AM/FM radio campaigns, the addition of digital was priced as a 20% increase to the base AM/FM radio plan.

In each case, adding a digital media component of online video and social to the AM/FM radio plan generated a +13% to +20% lift in campaign reach.

The addition of digital to the AM/FM radio campaign saw reach grow in every age group, especially among 18-24s.

AM/FM radio is a reach accelerator: Campaign reach soars +27% to +94% when AM/FM radio is added to a digital-only plan

For each of the three digital campaigns (heavy, medium, and light), the addition of AM/FM radio was priced as a 20% increase to the base digital plan. According to Nielsen Media Impact, the media optimization platform, heavy, medium, and light digital campaigns see a boost in audience reach when AM/FM radio is introduced into the media plan.

• A heavy digital plan sees campaign reach increase +27% with the addition of AM/FM radio
• A medium digital plan generates a +38% reach growth when AM/FM radio is introduced
• A light digital media plan finds campaign reach almost doubles (+94%) when AM/FM radio is added to the plan

It is interesting to note that the greater reach lift occurs with adding AM/FM radio to the smallest digital campaign. Advertisers with small budgets are sometimes concerned that adding new media platforms might spread themselves too thin.

These new findings from Nielsen should be exciting news for advertisers with small digital budget programs. The 20% increase to the budget to add AM/FM radio to the small digital campaign results in an eye-popping doubling of reach.

The addition of AM/FM radio to a digital plan results in reach lift across all demographics. The older the demographic, the greater the reach lift when AM/FM radio is introduced to a digital media plan. Given that older demographics hold the vast majority of the wealth in the U.S., growing 35+ reach is a powerful marketing strategy.

Nielsen Media Impact: Campaign reach explodes when AM/FM radio is introduced into a TV and digital media plan

Nielsen Media Impact reports a 57% campaign reach is generated by a media plan based on an investment of 68% linear TV, 13% connected TV, and 20% digital.

What happens when AM/FM radio is introduced into the media plan at a 10% allocation with no budget increase? Reach explodes. Nielsen Media Impact reports an astonishing +41% increase in reach due to the addition of AM/FM radio to the media plan with no budget increase.

Key takeaways:

• Advertising Research Foundation: Spending across multiple platforms delivers greater ROI than any single platform
• World Advertising Research Center (WARC): The greater the number of media platforms, the greater the marketing effectiveness
• Nielsen: Reach is the strongest media sales driver and the foundation of media effectiveness
• The key to growing impact is to increase campaign reach; The way to grow reach in the plan is adding media platforms
• Nielsen Scarborough: Digital and AM/FM radio work so well together because their audience profile is very similar
• Campaign reach grows +13% to +20% when digital (online video and social) is added at a 20% increase to an AM/FM radio plan
• AM/FM radio is a reach accelerator: Campaign reach soars +27% to +94% when AM/FM radio is added to a digital-only plan at a 20% budget increase
• The greatest reach increase comes from adding AM/FM radio to small digital budgets
• Nielsen Media Impact: Campaign reach explodes when AM/FM radio is introduced into a TV and digital media plan

Click here to view a 12-minute video of the key findings.

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

Contact the Insights team at CorpMarketing@westwoodone.com.