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

Click here to download a PDF of the slides.

Is it possible to measure the foot traffic impact of an AM/FM radio advertising campaign on a major retailer’s holiday promotion? If you are location analytics firm Placier.ai, the answer is yes!

Key findings:

• AM/FM radio works: The AM/FM radio holiday campaign for a major retailer drove two big surges in foot traffic on February 11th-12th and February 14th, 2026.
• There is a direct relationship between AM/FM radio campaign weight and foot traffic lift: The greater the AM/FM radio gross rating points (GRPs), the greater the foot traffic increases.
• Markets with very light/light AM/FM radio campaign weight saw foot traffic lift in the 0-10% range.
• Markets with medium and heavy AM/FM radio campaign weight resulted in 10-30% foot traffic increases.
• Why does AM/FM radio drive so much foot traffic for retailers? It’s America’s number one mass reach media!
• PlaceIQ: A major heavy AM/FM radio campaign in 44 markets yields a lift in share of category foot traffic that persists for months.
• Haus: 25% of incremental lift impact arrives after the media spend window closes.
• Motionworks: A national AM/FM radio campaign for a tax preparation firm drove the strongest foot traffic lift in the local markets where the AM/FM radio campaign had the largest GRP weight.

How the study was conducted

A major retailer ran a network radio campaign for Valentine’s Day promotion featuring a special offer. Via Media Monitors ad occurrences, AM/FM radio campaign deliveries (gross ratings points) were determined for 48 DMA markets.

Placier.ai, a leading location analytics and foot traffic intelligence firm, was commissioned by the Cumulus Media | Westwood One Audio Active Group® to measure the foot traffic impact of the total national AM/FM radio campaign. Placier.ai services over 4,500 customers in over 30+ industries.

Placer.ai uses mobile data and artificial intelligence to analyze how people move through physical spaces. They gather anonymized location data from a panel of roughly 30 million mobile devices (representing about 8% of the U.S. population) through partner apps. 

Placier.ai uses aggregated metrics without collecting personal identifiers like names or phone numbers, requiring a minimum threshold of devices to protect user privacy.

DMA markets were classified for very heavy, heavy, medium, light, and very light AM/FM radio campaign weight for the retailer.

• Very heavy DMA markets averaged 75 AM/FM radio campaign gross rating points
• Heavy DMA markets had an average of 38 GRPs
• Medium markets averaged 22 AM/FM radio campaign GRPs
• Light market has only 9 AM/FM radio campaign GRPs
• Very light markets only generated an average of 3 AM/FM radio campaign GRPs

AM/FM radio works: There were two big surges in foot traffic on February 11th-12th and February 14th, 2026

Overall, the Westwood One network radio campaign generated a +34% lift in foot traffic.

There is a direct relationship between campaign weight and foot traffic lift: The greater the gross rating points, the greater the foot traffic increases

Light and very light GRP weight markets (indicated in blue) had less foot traffic increases compared to the medium and heavy GRP weight markets (indicated in orange and yellow).

Markets with very light/light AM/FM radio campaign weight saw foot traffic lift in the 0-10% range

Markets with medium and heavy AM/FM radio campaign weight generated 10-30% foot traffic increases

Why does AM/FM radio drive so much foot traffic for retailers? It’s America’s number one mass reach media!

A 2026 study of media reach from Nielsen, Edison, and MRI-Simmons reveals AM/FM radio is America’s number one mass reach media. No wonder AM/FM radio ads can drive such significant foot traffic to retailers.

AM/FM radio’s reach is consistently strong during holiday weeks and holiday weekends

80 million Americans plan to listen to holiday music on AM/FM radio

AM/FM radio is the soundtrack of the holidays as shoppers get in the spirit with holiday music on AM/FM radio.

A series of additional major foot traffic studies reveal AM/FM radio’s ability to drive shoppers to retail locations.

PlaceIQ: A major heavy AM/FM radio campaign in 44 markets yields a lift in share of category foot traffic that persists for months

A major home improvement retailer used AM/FM radio to generate a major local spot radio heavy up to surge its share of category voice in 44 key markets. They implemented a major AM/FM radio surge in March 2019. In that month, their share of voice soared to 38%, well over their typical baseline 25% radio share of voice.

Their share of voice heavy up generated a two-point increase in share of footfall store visits in March and April. The aftereffects of the March surge lasted all through the spring, with elevated levels of share of category store traffic lasting until May.

Haus: The delayed impacts of upper-funnel marketing

The home improvement PlaceIQ location attribution study reveals a lag between the end of the ad campaign and the resulting foot traffic impact.

Drawing on hundreds of incrementality marketing experiments conducted over the past two years, Haus, the marketing effectiveness measurement firm, discovered 25% of incremental lift impact arrives after the media spend window closes.

The Haus study concludes, “If you’re not measuring lagged effects of your marketing, you could be leaving a quarter of your upper-funnel ROI on the table and potentially making budget decisions based on an incomplete picture.”

Brands selling on retail shelves experience lagged ROI most acutely

The Haus report found that “for brands selling through retail channels, the median share lift arriving in the post treatment window rises to 29%. For 25% of brands in the category, ROI doubles when factoring in the latent impact.”

Motionworks: A national AM/FM radio campaign for a tax preparation firm drew outsized foot traffic lifts from consumers with a household income over $50K

The AM/FM radio campaign weight was examined across DMAs with heavy, medium, and light GRP weight. AM/FM radio works. The greater the AM/FM radio weight, the greater the lift in foot traffic to the tax preparation firm.

Key findings:

• AM/FM radio works: The AM/FM radio holiday campaign for a major retailer drove two big surges in foot traffic on February 11th-12th and February 14th, 2026.
• There is a direct relationship between AM/FM radio campaign weight and foot traffic lift: The greater the AM/FM radio gross rating points, the greater the foot traffic increases.
• Markets with very light/light AM/FM radio campaign weight saw foot traffic lift in the 0-10% range.
• Markets with medium and heavy AM/FM radio campaign weight resulted in 10-30% foot traffic increases.
• Why does AM/FM radio drive so much foot traffic for retailers? It’s America’s number one mass reach media!
• PlaceIQ: A major heavy AM/FM radio campaign in 44 markets yields a lift in share of category foot traffic that persists for months.
• Haus: 25% of incremental lift impact arrives after the media spend window closes.
• Motionworks: A national AM/FM radio campaign for a tax preparation firm drove the strongest foot traffic lift in the local markets where the AM/FM radio campaign had the largest GRP weight.

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.