Audio Advertising: A Powerful Medium for Brands
Audio has historically been used by advertisers predominantly as a short-term sales medium—getting tactical messages to air quickly and building frequency. However, the high reach of audio, combined with its mood-enhancing effect on listeners across a range of listening occasions and locations, means that it is capable of playing a broader and more ambitious role for brands.
Key Roles for Audio in Brand Communications
A) Brand Building
Extensive research shows that to maximise sales, brands must engage in both long-term (brand-building) and short-term (tactical, sales-driven) marketing simultaneously. Since most people are not in-market to purchase a specific product at any given moment, brands must consistently build brand equity over time. This ensures that when potential customers do enter the market, their brand is top of mind.
While audio has traditionally been used for short-term sales, substantial evidence now shows that audio is also highly effective at building long-term brand equity.
The advertising effectiveness research company, System1’s database shows that TV and radio ads have the same average Star Rating, predicting similar long-term effectiveness. Their conclusion is that audio ads are as likely to cause long-lasting brand effects as TV advertising. See here Radio Centre Ireland - Emotion's defining role in audio advertising effectiveness
Radiocentre Ireland's CampaignFX study is the largest analysis of audio effectiveness ever undertaken in Ireland and it measures how brands who use audio are much more effective at delivering on key metrics such as brand awareness, brand consideration and purchase intent. See here Radio Centre Ireland - CampaignFX is the largest analysis of audio effectiveness ever undertaken in Ireland and it shows audio's strength
Successful long-term brand-building campaigns share three key characteristics:
1. Reach a Wide Audience
Audio listening is ubiquitous in Ireland:
The JNLR listenership research measure listening to radio across all demographics and it breaks out listening by station and region. You can access the latest JNLR data here Radio Centre Ireland - The April '24 to March '25 JNLR/Ipsos survey reveals that Irish radio is enjoying its highest audience ever
The Irish Audio Report measures listening to all audio platforms, be it, live radio, streaming services, podcasts, vinyl, downloads, YouTube Music. you can access the latest Irish Audio Report here Radio Centre Ireland - The 2024 Irish Audio Report provides comprehensive analysis of the Irish audio market
2. Use Emotional Advertising to Connect
On average, happiness and energy scores increase by 100% and 300%, respectively, when people consume audio compared to when they consume no media. Audio scores highest for happiness and energy in 70% of dayparts across the week.
Music is inherently emotional, and research consistently shows that audio content has a positive emotional impact on listeners. This mood-boosting effect extends into ad breaks, generating 30% higher levels of positive engagement with radio advertising.
According to research by Amárach for Radiocentre Ireland:
3. Create Brand Fame
Audio amplifies brand fame. Analysis of the IPA Databank reveals that including radio in a media mix significantly increases the likelihood of achieving brand fame.
B) Short-Term Sales
Many advertisers turn to audio for short-term sales because of its clear tactical advantages:
A UK study covering 142 brands across 14 sectors and €2.3 billion in media spend (2012–2023) found that audio ranked:
You can access the full UK ROI study here Radio Centre Ireland - Major new study reveals that audio is a major ROI driver
C) Driving Response
Multiple studies have shown the strong impact of audio in both generating and converting demand:
But why is attribution challenging?
Unlike digital platforms, capturing online response to offline audio like radio is more complex. Audio is often consumed while multitasking, meaning responses may be delayed. When people do respond, they often use search engines rather than direct URLs, complicating attribution.
Radiocentre Ireland Research:
In a study on Sky’s ‘€38/month Sky Sale’ campaign, Radiocentre Ireland used analytics data to track the relationship between radio ads and website visits.
You can review the full study by clicking here Radio Centre Ireland - New Radiocentre Ireland research shows that radio drives significant website traffic
Radiocentre UK Research:
Radiocentre UK undertook analysing a range of UK campaigns to understand how radio ads drove responses.
You can review the full study by clicking here Radio Centre Ireland - Audio's impact on driving website traffic is hugely underestimated according to a new study
D) Building Brand Trust
According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, brand trust ranks as one of the top considerations when it comes to product purchases. The research suggests that the more channels through which people encounter a brand message, the more likely they are to trust it.
What are radio’s trust credentials – and how can these help brands?
At a general level, the Eurobarometer Survey published by the European Commission shows that radio is the most trusted medium in Ireland and across most European markets.
When it comes to advertising and brand trust, the IPA UK Databank highlights that campaigns featuring audio generate four times the level of brand trust compared to those that don’t.
Finally, from a radio advertising-specific perspective, Radiocentre Ireland’s Campaign FX research shows that people exposed to audio advertising within a campaign are 72% more likely to trust a brand than those who are not.
So, if building trust is important for your brand, all of the available data suggests that radio is the ideal place to be heard.
E) Targeting the right people at the right time with the right message
Audio is top of the list as the most flexible medium as it can be used to target audiences in a variety of ways:
Geographically: An important factor for many advertisers is selecting stations that focus on specific locations. With a range of national, regional and local stations covering all parts of Ireland, audio is highly flexible geographically – providing opportunities for all types of advertisers to precisely target important locations efficiently.
Demographically: audio consists of a wide range of stations with a variety of content and playlists attracting different types of audiences. JNLR data allows advertisers to analyse which stations are best for reaching their specific target audience.
Time of day/day of week: Audio is a predominantly live and linear medium, meaning that ads play out in real time. This allows advertisers to time their advertising to reach people on specific days of the week and/or specific times of day to enhance the relevance and efficiency of certain messages, where appropriate
Contextual: Research demonstrates that reaching people at relevant times can help enhance cut through and effectiveness of a campaign. As audio is available in a wide range of devices and doesn’t require primary attention, listeners often use audio to accompany a range of tasks and activities across the day, from the school run to working/studying through to childcare, allowing advertisers to target audiences in specific contexts. Hear and Now research from Radiocentre UK looks specifically at how targeting people at relevant times helps turbocharge ad effectiveness.
See Hear and Now research here Hear and Now: how targeting people at relevant times helps turbocharge ad effectiveness - Radiocentre
Addressability: with more listening taking place through connected devices, all stations can offer individualised personal data-led targeting of listeners to their streamed content. Technology allows advertisers to target based on factors such as specific location (eg city, town), time of day, weather, listening device (i.e. smart speaker, mobile phone, PC, tablet etc) and context. A great example of this is the campaign for Irish Life’s MyLife App, where dynamic technology was used to generate 23,688possible variations of the Irish Life audio ad to ensure each message was tailored to the specific situation that was relevant to the listener (day and time of year, time of day, location, device used to listen).
Read the Irish Life Case Study here Radio Centre Ireland - 23,688 Steps to Success with MyLife
