Audio Is A Powerful Brand Builder And Sales Driver

Seven consumer studies commissioned by the Cumulus Media | Westwood One Audio Active Group® over an eight-year period find audio listeners are a rich source of in-market financial consumers and drive significant top and bottom funnel impact. The key findings from the studies are outlined on this week’s blog.

Key takeaways:

Compared to TV viewers, audio listeners are far more likely own investment assets, to be in the market for financial services, and be interested in the category.
Despite massive TV spending by financial service marketers, TV viewers exhibit low brand equity for financial service brands and weak interest in the category due to the older skew of TV audiences.
MRI-Simmons: Heavy podcast and AM/FM radio listeners are the ideal audiences for financial brands as they are more likely to be premium clients willing to pay for financial services.
Case study #1:MESH Experience: Among consumers with $500K+ of investable assets, heavy AM/FM radio listeners are three times more likely than heavy TV viewers to be in the market for a new or additional financial services company.
Case study #2:AM/FM radio drives strong growth in top funnel measures such as awareness, favorability, and consideration.
Case study #3:A MARU/Matchbox study of consumers with $1M+ of investable assets found over a six-month period, an AM/FM radio campaign generated double-digit lifts in most measures of brand equity.
Case study #4:Heavy AM/FM radio listeners are more likely to be active investors and more engaged with the financial category versus heavy TV viewers.
Case study #5:Heavy AM/FM radio listeners are +44% more likely to be financial ‘thrivers,’ those who like taking investing risks and agree that investing is important.
Case study #6:Compared to TV viewers, audio listeners are much more likely to have investments across a broad array of assets classes and more likely to invest in major financial brands.
Case study #7:Harris Poll Brand Tracker: A Westwood One NFL AM/FM radio campaign generates significant brand equity impact far stronger than among TV viewers.