Peter Field’s “The Long and the Short of It – 10 Years On: Radio’s Enduring role in Effectiveness” presented at a Radiocentre Ireland event showcased the positive business outcomes of marketers who have radio in their media plans. Field analyzed the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) databank of over 1,200 case studies submitted to their Effectiveness Awards Competition. Covering a broad spectrum of marketing categories and budgets, the study represent one of the most rigorous proofs of the effectiveness of marketing communications. One of the conclusions from the work was that radio boosts mental availability (the propensity of a brand to be noticed and thought of in buying situations) by +13%. One of the most important factors in driving brand preference is ‘mental availability’: how well known a brand is, and how easily it comes to mind. Brands with high mental availability don’t have to push so hard to sell, so tend to have higher market shares and better margins.

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This study also showed that brands in this vast IPA databank using radio had a +28% greater market share compared to brands not using radio.

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The study also revealed that advertisers using radio have a +42% greater profit than brands that do not use radio.

Profit Ability 2: The New Business Case for Advertising is also a significant recent study on marketing effectiveness from measurement firms Gain Theory and Ebiquity, along with media agencies EssenceMediacom, Mindshare, and Wavemaker UK. The study was a massive undertaking that involved analyzing stg£1.8 billion in media spend (2021-2023) across 142 brands, 14 sectors, and 10 media channels.

The study revealed audio has the second highest short-term return on advertising spend (within one to thirteen weeks) and third in overall return on advertising spend (from one week one to two years). The study reported that a stg£1 invested in audio (radio, podcasts, or streaming) generates a stg£2.47 of profit within one to thirteen weeks. Overall, a stg£1 invested in audio generates a return stg£4.98 of profit over the entire two-year period (one week to two years).