Proctor and Gamble, the worlds largest advertiser recently announced that they were cutting back on their digital advertising budget over concerns about click fraud, non-human interaction and ad placement on websites with objectionable content. At the same time, they announced a return to Radio advertising. And for good reason, Radio is the Original Social Medium.
Before there was Facebook or Instagram, Radio was the social medium for millions of teenagers. They would spend hours listening to their favorite Radio stations on radios of all shapes and sizes. The battery powered transistor Radio was all the rage. It was small and portable. You could take it everywhere you went.
The local Radio station was the information clearing house for the community. People could tune in to hear everything from the school lunch menu, obituaries, birthdays, anniversaries to the news, weather and sports. The local Radio station was the place to learn about upcoming concerts and other social activities.
You could call up your local Radio station and request a song and dedicate it to your sweetheart, ask them to announce a birthday or anniversary or just let you know about the weather.
Radio is still a powerful social medium even today with satellite and Internet Radio. In fact, the main reason that P&G is coming back to Radio is they can’t reach consumers between the ages of 18-44 on television like the could before. AM & FM Radio have over 249 million weekly listeners. That is an increase of more than 10 million in just the past few years. That’s more than television and Facebook users in the United States.
AM and FM Radio is growing. The majority of these new listeners are young people who tune in to their local Radio station for many of the same reasons their parents did a generation ago. They want to learn about new music and activities in their area. They want the up-to-date information that Radio stations provide.
Radio advertising continues to be the Reach and Frequency leader for local businesses on a tight budget. They find they can reach more new customers, more frequently, for a lower Cost Per Thousand than they can with any other medium. They can pick and choose which Radio station to advertise with instead of letting an ad placement agency put their digital advertising on a website with objectionable material.
Proctor and Gamble, the worlds largest advertiser must know something about the power of Radio advertising if they are redirecting tens of millions of dollars back to Radio advertising. It is a ringing endorsement of Radio’s ability to reach large audience with the frequency P&G wants for their family of brands.
While most local businesses can’t spend as much money as P&G, they certainly can spend what money they do have in the very same way.
