As 2022 comes to an end, we’re looking back at the blog posts that resonated the most. Here are our top 5 most popular audio insights posts of the year in descending order:

5. New Advertiser And Consumer Studies On Media Attentiveness And Ad Skipping From The CUMULUS MEDIA | Westwood One Audio Active Group®: A major topic in media circles this year was attentiveness, defined by the Advertising Research Foundation as “the degree to which those exposed to the advertising are focused on it.” In February, we released the Media Attentiveness and Ad Skipping Report, a study that included audio as part of the attention discussion with data from MARU/Matchbox and Signal Hill Insights. The key takeaway was that AM/FM radio, print, and podcast ads lead in attentiveness while consumers skip social and digital ads the most.

4. Edison’s “Share Of Ear” Q3 2022: AM/FM Radio Streaming Listening Surges, Now 20% Bigger Than Ad-Supported Spotify And Pandora Combined, And Podcast Audiences Explode: Next up was Edison Research’s “Share of Ear” report from Q3 2022. The gold standard study for time spent with audio, “Share of Ear” is released quarterly and gives the most up to date data for audio consumption trends. Highlights of this year’s “Share of Ear” studies included AM/FM radio’s continued dominance of ad-supported audio, especially in the car, plus surges in AM/FM radio streaming and podcasts.

3. Three Solutions To The Podcast Ad Frequency Problem: “Remind The Many, Don’t Lecture The Few”: As podcasts continued to grow in listenership and advertising, our third blog looked at the problem of ad frequency. As reported by Podsights, podcast campaign ad frequency saw a twofold increase from Q1 2021 to Q1 2022. An easy fix to reduce conversion? Prioritizing reach over frequency.

Three strategies were outlined to grow podcast reach: 1) Buy more shows and genres than the “obvious fit” podcasts by consulting Nielsen’s Scarborough Podcast Buying Power study or MRI to find additional shows and genres to purchase; 2) Purchase genres and shows based on reach among category buyers, not index; and 3) Spread impressions further down the ranker and buy more than just top shows.

2. Cumulus Media And Signal Hill Insights’ Podcast Download – Fall 2022 Report: Watching Podcasts Generates Advertising Attentiveness Greater Than Linear TV; Advertiser Use Of Podcasts Soars To Record Levels: Twice a year, Cumulus Media partners with Signal Hill Insights to release the Podcast Download Study, a report that profiles the podcast audience, platform preference, and ad tolerance among listeners. The latest Fall 2022 version also highlights two new areas of interest – co-listening with children and the growing segment of podcast watchers, those who prefer to consume podcasts with a video component versus an audio-only experience.

And our most popular post…

1. 3 Ways AM/FM Radio Makes Facebook Ads Better: For many advertisers, social media is a great way to stay in front of customers and create impact. Our top post of the year looks at 3 ways AM/FM radio ads can make Facebook campaigns better.

First, AM/FM radio adds new, different people to campaigns that Facebook cannot reach. Second, AM/FM radio ads are more noticed than Facebook ads. Finally, people spend nearly twice as much time listening to AM/FM radio than they do on social media, so exposure is higher with AM/FM radio ads versus social media campaigns.

Lauren Vetrano is the VP of Advertiser Measurement & Insights of the Cumulus Media | Westwood One Audio Active Group^®.

Contact the Insights team at CorpMarketing@westwoodone.com.