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

Click here to download a PDF of the slides.

There is growing advertiser interest in geotargeting ads and exciting new technologies that permit AM/FM radio to target over-the-air ads by geography and report the location of in-vehicle AM/FM radio audiences.

Key findings:

• Small and medium businesses report geotargeting is their most successful and utilized advertising strategy
• A Nielsen auto-intender analysis reveals the auto dealers at which consumers shop varies significantly by region of the metro
• Cumulus Performance Digital reports auto dealer sales effect is greatest when geotargeted digital solutions are paired with AM/FM radio ads
• Advertiser awareness and interest is growing for ZoneCasting, a new technology that can broadcast different over-the-air AM/FM radio ads to different geographies  
• 39% of advertisers say ZoneCasting will cause them to spend more on AM/FM radio or begin using AM/FM radio advertising
• Via Xperi’s DTS AutoStage, AM/FM radio broadcasters can now generate heat maps that show where their audiences listen in the car and consumer proximity to retail locations

A recent Advertiser Perceptions study of national advertisers and media agencies reports nearly 90% are using geotargeting to guide their advertising, up from 70% in 2020.

A Borrell Associates survey of small and medium local businesses reveals that geotargeting is the most successful and utilized method of targeting.

Nielsen: The auto dealers at which consumers shop varies significantly by region of the metro

Mike Katz, Senior Client Solutions Executive, Customer Experience, Nielsen, examined which car dealers consumers say they will shop in seven markets across the country. Mike found significant differences in the dealers auto intenders would shop within the metro.

When it comes to the auto dealers consumers would consider, there is wide variation within a metro:

• Within the Burlington-Plattsburgh market, Plattsburg auto intenders say Della is the dealer they would shop most. In Burlington, auto intenders gravitate to Heritage Auto Group.
• In the Denver-Boulder market, Boulder auto intenders shop most at Shortline Subaru. In the six-county Denver region, AutoNation and CarMax have the highest shopping consideration.
• In the Omaha-Council Bluffs metro, Council Bluffs auto intenders shop most at Edwards while those in Omaha shop most at Baxter and Woodhouse.

Branding failure: One-third of Americans cannot name one auto dealer

It’s interesting to note that one of the most popular responses to the “auto dealers shopped” question is “none/don’t know.” In a recent analysis, Mike Katz found that one in five auto intenders cannot name one car dealer to shop for a vehicle. There is a huge opportunity for auto dealers to introduce ad campaigns that build their brand and help them become better known, rather than touting a sale.

Cumulus Performance Digital: Broad reach AM/FM radio ads improve digital impact

A review of dozens of successful Cumulus Performance Digital auto dealer case studies reveals sales effect was greatest when geotargeted digital (email, display, social) were paired with AM/FM radio ads.

AM/FM radio ads help build fame and brand awareness. The stronger the brand awareness, the stronger the sales conversions.

A major study from TikTok and brand awareness measurement firm Tracksuit reveals a strong brand makes performance marketing work harder.

Tracksuit found:

• The greater the awareness, the greater the conversion rate: There is a direct relationship between aided awareness and conversion rate.
• Stronger brand awareness improves performance marketing impact by as much as 2.86X: The stronger your brand, the greater your performance efficiency. Compared to low-awareness brands, medium-awareness brands generate 1.48X greater conversion. Brands with high aided awareness have 2.86X greater conversion rates compared to low awareness brands.
• Brand awareness is a controlling factor for the outcomes of performance marketing: Brand is the foundation on which performance success is built: the stronger the brand, the stronger the foundation. That’s why local retailers who use both radio and digital solutions report the strongest sales effect.

While digital media has long been able to geotarget, the ability for AM/FM radio to run different ads over-the-air to different geographies is a recent innovation.

ZoneCasting allows different ads to be broadcast over-the-air to different geographies  

In January 2025, the FCC issued new rules for FM broadcasters, permitting full geotargeted content to be broadcast. For three minutes an hour, stations can have different over-the-air ads and programming in different geographies.

Advertiser awareness and interest in ZoneCasting is growing

Over the last five years, Advertiser Perceptions has surveyed 300 media agencies and marketers each year on the geotargeting AM/FM radio broadcast service called ZoneCasting. Since 2020, Advertiser Perceptions reports marketer and media agency awareness of ZoneCasting has increased 2X from 28% to 63%.

41% of advertisers and agencies say they are “very interested” in the ability of AM/FM radio to deliver geotargeted ads over the air through ZoneCasting. Advertiser interest has doubled since 2020. The proportion who say they are “very interested” has increased from 20% in 2020 to 41% in 2024.

39% of advertisers say ZoneCasting will cause them to spend more on AM/FM radio or begin using AM/FM radio advertising

Over the last five years, Advertiser Perceptions reports the proportion of marketers and media agencies who indicate ZoneCasting is “very likely” to cause them to use AM/FM radio or spend more has surged by 3X, from 13% in 2020 to 39% in 2024.

Via Xperi’s DTS AutoStage, AM/FM radio broadcasters can now generate heat maps that show where their audiences listen in the car and consumer proximity to retail locations

Nielsen reports that nearly half of all AM/FM radio listening occurs in the car. However, the AM/FM radio industry has never known where consumers actually listen to AM/FM radio while in vehicles. Enter Xperi’s DTS AutoStage.

For the first time in history, we can now understand the true geographic listenership profiles of the AM/FM radio in-car audience.

DTS AutoStage, a new connected car technology, reports minute-by-minute AM/FM radio listening from car radios along with the location of the vehicle. DTS AutoStage is active in seven million vehicles in the U.S., with an additional five million globally, from a wide variety of manufacturers (BMW, Mini, Ford, Lincoln, Tesla, Hyundai, Kia, Genesis, Mercedes, Nissan, and INFINITI).

Here is a heat map visual of where people listen in the car to The Ticket, the Dallas – Ft. Worth sports radio giant:

Here’s the geographic heat map of WLS Chicago. There is a concentration in the urban core but also a wide geography of where WLS’s audience listens in their vehicles.

Lastly, here’s the geographic heat map of Kix 96 in the Beaumont Port Arthur market. There are two distinct geographic skews to Kix 96’s in-car listening.

Xperi DTS AutoStage heat maps show where people listen in-car and where they shop

Now AM/FM radio stations can show local advertisers the geographic tendencies of their audience and how they align with their retailer’s location footprint. Auto dealers can align their retail trading area with AM/FM radio station audiences. Car dealers can geotarget their over-the-air AM/FM radio ads via ZoneCasting and quantify the location of in-car audience deliveries via Xperi’s DTS AutoStage. 

Key findings:

• Small and medium businesses report geotargeting is their most successful and utilized advertising strategy
• A Nielsen auto-intender analysis reveals the auto dealers at which consumers shop varies significantly by region of the metro
• Cumulus Performance Digital reports auto dealer sales effect is greatest when geotargeted digital solutions are paired with AM/FM radio ads
• Advertiser awareness and interest is growing for ZoneCasting, a new technology that can broadcast different over-the-air AM/FM radio ads to different geographies  
• 39% of advertisers say ZoneCasting will cause them to spend more on AM/FM radio or begin using AM/FM radio advertising
• Via Xperi’s DTS AutoStage, AM/FM radio broadcasters can now generate heat maps that show where their audiences listen in the car and consumer proximity to retail locations

Click here to view a 12-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.