On Wednesday, March 13th, 2019, a pharmaceutical brand and CUMULUS MEDIA partnered on a nationwide “takeover” of a four hour time period on 173 stations across 77 markets. The only advertising sponsor for this takeover, which aired 10AM to 2PM, was the pharmaceutical brand, running their ad 2 times per hour.

This ad had also been running on network radio since January 2017. The ad explains a specific disease state and drives listeners to an educational website.

To quantify the effect of the March 13th campaign, CUMULUS MEDIA retained MARU/Matchbox to survey consumers on awareness and recall for the AM/FM radio advertising. 698 consumers were surveyed from March 18th through March 25th, 2019 in markets where the campaign aired.

Here’s what we found:

Older demographics and women were most likely to recall the website mentioned in the ad. 32% of Boomers 55+ could recall the URL promoted in the pharmaceutical ad, higher than the 28% average. 30% of women could recall the website.

The website address was only mentioned in the creative once. The best practice for brands? Mention website addresses or important information early and often for better response.

17% of heavy AM/FM radio listeners recalled the pharmaceutical brand’s campaign, 2X greater than the average. Heavy AM/FM radio listeners were twice as likely to recall the campaign compared to the 8% average. Heavy AM/FM radio listeners were also more likely to recall the ad than heavy TV viewers (9%).

When played the commercial, nearly one-third of heavy AM/FM radio listeners could recall the ad, +72% greater than the average. After being played the commercial, a higher percentage of heavy AM/FM radio listeners could recall that they had heard the ad compared to the average (18%) and heavy TV viewers (18%).

Heavy AM/FM radio listeners were more likely to take action after hearing the ad. Compared to the average and heavy TV viewers, heavy AM/FM radio listeners who were exposed to the ad were more likely to take action. 23% of heavy AM/FM radio listeners were somewhat likely or very likely to visit the pharmaceutical brand’s website. 27% would recommend the product and 23% would talk to someone about it.

Radio makes your pharmaceutical TV campaign better: Moving 20% of a massive TV budget to AM/FM radio causes a +22% lift in campaign reach. In another pharmaceutical brand case study, a brand spent $24 million dollars in August 2018 on network television. Pharmaceutical brands are heavy users of TV as television does a fantastic job of delivering lots of older Americans.

The TV investment yielded a strong 77% reach of the adult 35+ demographic. With such a big TV budget and such impressive reach is it even possible that the addition of AM/FM radio could generate any incremental reach? The answer is yes.

Using Nielsen’s recently enhanced Nielsen Media Impact, the industry-leading cross-platform media planning solution, the reach lift of adding AM/FM radio to the TV plan could be quantified.

A reallocation of 20% of the TV budget into AM/FM radio causes reach to jump from 77% of adults 35+ to 94%! That’s a +22% increase in reach for the same budget!

American AM/FM radio is being rediscovered by big brands. After decades of inactivity, Procter & Gamble is now the fastest growing advertiser on U.S. AM/FM radio as a result of digital fraud and eroding TV audiences.

Pharmaceutical brands can generate significant reach, brand equity growth, and sales lift by adding AM/FM radio to the media plan.

Key takeaways:

• Older demographics and women were most likely to recall the website mentioned in the ad
• 17% of heavy AM/FM radio listeners recalled the pharmaceutical brand’s campaign, 2X greater than the average
• When played the commercial, nearly one-third of heavy AM/FM radio listeners could recall the ad
• Heavy AM/FM radio listeners were more likely to take action after hearing the ad
• Radio makes your pharmaceutical TV campaign better: Moving 20% of a massive TV budget to AM/FM radio causes a +22% lift in campaign reach

Lauren Vetrano is Director of Content Marketing at CUMULUS MEDIA | Westwood One.

Contact the Insights team at CorpMarketing@westwoodone.com.