HOW RADIO CAN UNLOCK MILLIONS IN UNTAPPED

REVENUE FOR ADVERTISERS

 P R E FA C E
This report has been a year in the making.
Across that time, the major econometric analysis agencies signed up to the vision of
constructing the definitive analysis of radio’s ROI contribution within the wider
marketing mix; they extricated all of their econometrics data relating to radio
campaigns and supplied it to the central pool; the data has been aligned and
analysed to produce highly compelling findings.
Simon Redican
Managing Director
We would like to thank all of our agency partners, who represent all of the major
agency groups (BrandScience, Data2Decisions, Havas Media, Holmes & Cook, IPG
Mediabrands, MediaCom, Mindshare, OHAL, and Starcom Mediavest), for trusting
us with their data and committing their time to this study – the biggest of its kind –
for the benefit of their clients and the wider industry.
Finally, we would like to thank those in the industry who helped along the way: the
IPA for their wise counsel; Robin Angell and the J-ET team for helping to fill some
information gaps; and a special thank you to Holmes & Cook, who did such an
incredible job of making sense of the blizzard of data.
Who knew numbers could be so interesting!

Over 20 years of RAB research gives a clear indication of radio’s multiplier effect
within the media mix. But to date this claim has been based mainly on intermediary
measures; unsupported by definitive ROI evidence.
That’s why we commissioned this study.
We encountered a lot of challenges along the way – not least getting sufficient data
Mark Barber to enable the analysis to take place. And, because it’s a first, we had to create a
Planning Director
process to capture, harmonise and interrogate the data before we could begin to
unearth some frankly astonishing results for radio.
Because it’s a new RAB study about radio, you won’t be surprised to hear that
this report contains strong evidence of radio’s multiplier effect on ROI for advertisers
- not least that allocating a higher share of media budget to radio can significantly
improve returns from overall media investment – and some important lessons for
optimising this.
If you’d like to discuss how your brand can harness Radio’s ROI Multiplier effect,
please give us a call on 020 7010 0700 – we’d love to hear from you.

Contents: Partner agencies:

Page 3 The main headlines
Page 4 Executive summary
Page 5 Background and objectives
Page 7 How the study was done
Page 12 Key findings from the study
Page 23 Implications for advertisers

Page 2
THE MAIN HEADLINES
First-ever analysis of confidential cross-agency data reveals radio’s true return on
investment (ROI):

Brands using radio get their money back nearly eight times over on average,
and in many sectors, radio offers the best ROI of any media

For radio campaign planners, maximising weekly coverage rather than

frequency delivers significantly stronger ROI

The brands which have the highest radio ROI use commercials which stand
out, fit well with the brand and communicate information clearly

Using more radio boosts overall campaign ROI: if existing budgets are
reallocated from other media to give radio a 20% share of spend, overall
campaign ROI increases by 8%

For the Top 100 radio advertisers, this is equivalent to recouping over £1.4bn
in untapped return on their advertising investment

IMPLICATIONS FOR ADVERTISERS

The implications of this study are evident: advertisers can significantly boost their
campaign ROI by:

increasing share of spend on radio to around 20%, subject to media mix

maximising radio weekly audience coverage (rather than optimising

frequency)

leveraging effective creative components (stand-out; brand-fit; clarity)

within radio executions

Page 3
 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In a world first, this study evaluates radio advertising effectiveness in detail in terms
of revenue return on investment (ROI) across a broad dataset. The results are
based on an analysis conducted by Holmes & Cook of confidential ROI data supplied
by nine econometrics agencies representing all major media agency groups,
covering over 2,000 individual media campaigns across 517 separate advertising
campaigns. The campaigns covered ten major sectors, and used a variety of multi-
media combinations. All data were supplied direct by the agencies, and unbranded
to preserve client confidentiality.
On average radio advertisers get their money back 7.7 times over, although some
categories show exceptional performance, notably automotive and retailer brands,
as well as impulse products. This makes radio the medium with the second-highest
return on investment (TV is first), out-performing press, outdoor and online.
When the creative analysis from radioGAUGE studies is included, we see that the
radio campaigns most likely to out-perform the average are those which have
standout, present their message clearly and are seen to fit well with the brand.
In terms of media planning, it is coverage rather than frequency which boosts
radio ROI – there is a strong statistical link between these.
Perhaps most importantly, this meta-regression analysis allows us to assess the
“multiplier effect” which different levels of radio spend have on overall campaign
effectiveness. This reveals that brands which reallocate more of their ad budgets to
radio see significantly higher returns in terms of overall campaign ROI.
Currently radio carries 6% of all advertising budgets, but this study demonstrates
that if budgets were reallocated to give radio a 20% share of total spend – with no
increase in overall expenditure – the total campaign ROI raises by over 8%.
For the top 100 radio advertisers, this is equivalent to recouping over £1.4bn
additional return on their investment.

Page 4 Partner agencies:

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Radio has established itself as an effective advertising medium in the UK, and the
RAB holds over 600 case studies demonstrating this. Radio’s strengths mainly lie in
the way it is consumed:

people listen for long periods – radio accounts for 25% of all daily media
consumption time, according to IPA TouchPoints

in tandem with the high share of voice that radio offers compared to other
media this allows advertisers to achieve very high levels of “share of mind”
compared to their rivals

radio allows advertisers to speak to listeners at key activity moments across

the day – during the school run, food preparation, commuting etc.

It seems to be this unique consumption pattern that, when underpinned with the
important emotional support role radio plays in people’s lives, gives radio the
“multiplier effect” which has been demonstrated many times in the RAB’s major
studies, notably:

how radio boosts the effect of TV advertising

(The Awareness Multiplier, 2000)

radio’s ability to drive FMCG sales

(The Sales Multiplier, 2003)

how radio boosts brand browsing online

(The Online Multiplier, 2010)

how radio’s emotional component enhances ad effectiveness

(The Emotional Multiplier, 2011)

Recently however there has been a dramatic change in the media effectiveness
information available to advertisers. An ever increasing need to justify media
investment is leading to marketing activity being analysed in far more detail than
ever before, particularly in terms of identifying cause and effect. As a result, all the
major agency groups now have econometrics specialists, and the effects of
individual media within the media mix are being continually measured – albeit in
confidence, and using slightly different modelling approaches in each agency.

Page 5
 ECONOMETRICS – THE KEY PUBLISHED STUDIES

Advertising Pays: this 2013 report by the Advertising Association

(www.adassoc.org.uk) was based on independent research by Deloitte, and
established that for every pound spent on advertising, the economy grows by about
£6. Although radio was included in the study, its effectiveness was not analysed in
detail.

Brand Science OMC study: this 2009 econometric study for the Outdoor Media
Centre (www.outdoormediacentre.org.uk) identified strong returns on advertising
investment, and suggested that some media combinations were more efficient than
others. However it was mainly focused on the retail and FMCG sectors, and no
specific detail on the role of radio was published.

Payback 3: this 2011 study was commissioned by Thinkbox (www.thinkbox.tv) for

the commercial TV industry. It analysed the performance of 3000 campaigns over
five years using Ebiquity’s proprietary data, and specifically looked at the profit
generated by advertising – in this regard radio was the second-highest performer
amongst the mainstream media (TV came top). However, more detailed findings
about the effectiveness of radio were not made public in the study.
The limitations of these studies helped to identify the challenge facing the radio
industry. There was a clear need for an authoritative source which could identify the
role played by radio in terms of return on advertising investment and explore what
influences this.

Key objectives

• What return on investment does radio deliver for advertisers, how does this
compare to other media, and how does it vary by sector?

• What characterises the campaigns with the best ROI levels in terms of
laydown and creative approach?

• How do different levels of radio spend affect the ROI for radio, and for the
overall campaign ROI?

Page 6 Partner agencies:

HOW THE STUDY WAS DONE
To meet these objectives we needed data which would:

allow detailed analysis of the role played by radio in the media mix in terms
of ROI

identify the creative characteristics of the most effective campaigns

give indications of the most effective ways to deploy media spend

An initial consultation revealed a major challenge to these goals – no single

econometrics agency held enough data about radio campaigns to tolerate this depth
of analysis. The ground-breaking solution we developed was to pool all available
radio-related ROI data held by the main agency groups to allow detailed central
analysis to be conducted and underlying patterns revealed.
There were two main stages to the study in order to ensure that it delivered against
these requirements.

A. DATA COLLECTION
The initial focus of this project involved briefing and persuading the econometric
agencies to agree to participate and provide the data required within the project
timings. An important condition within this was that any data supplied would be
unbranded to protect client confidentiality.
Our partner agencies for this project included BrandScience, Data2Decisions, Havas
Media, Holmes & Cook, IPG Mediabrands, MediaCom, Mindshare, OHAL, and
Starcom Mediavest. We appointed Holmes and Cook to conduct the central
analysis.
Once signed up for the project, participating agencies were then asked to submit
unbranded data for all radio-related campaigns – the vast majority from the past five
years. This used a fixed data template (see Appendix for the full template) for the
agencies to supply detailed campaign information under three main headings:

i) Qualitative data
As data was supplied unbranded, it was important to collect information to help
understand what type of brands and campaigns were being analysed to provide
context to the findings.

ii) Quantitative data

This included essential information about the performance of campaigns and
individual media.

Page 7
 iii) radioGAUGE data
The additional challenge with analysing unbranded data is that it precludes
evaluation of creative impact. To fill this information gap RAB provided agencies with
all radioGAUGE information held for their clients, including quantification of creative
impact based on the RAB’s proprietary 5Is process (see Appendix for more detail).
Where matches existed between the campaigns measured on radioGAUGE and
those for which they held ROI data, the agencies attached the radioGAUGE
information to the unbranded statistics featured in the data template, enabling the
influence of creative execution on Radio ROI to be explored without undermining
brand confidentiality.

DATA SUPPLY
All data supplied unbranded

QUALITATIVE DATA QUANTITATIVE DATA RADIOGAUGE DATA

Sector ROI 5Is score

Market Position Radio Sales Uplift (%) Opinions on creative
Type of Purchase Media Spend Creative features
Campaign Delivery

The final Radio ROI Dataset

Following extensive cross-checking and reconciliation of source data, the final
dataset was revealed to comprise 22,748 individual data points across 2,000
separate media campaigns relating to 517 advertising campaigns, which spent a
total of £2.52bn across media as follows:

Radio Online Radio

Online 5.8% 8.1% 6.9%
Outdoor
20.1% 8.8%

Outdoor
11.7% TV TV
44.3% Press 45.3%
30.9%
Press
18.1%

Radio ROI Dataset Overall Advertising Market

Source: Nielsen AdDynamix MAT June 2013

Page 8 Partner agencies:

At the total level, the brands in the dataset had a broadly similar pattern of media
spend to the wider display market. Interestingly, despite the fact that it featured in all
campaigns, radio was under-represented in terms of share of campaign spend. This
slight under-investment in radio was found to be consistent across all sectors (see
Appendix for a full breakdown) and is crucial to note because it highlights that the
use of radio is unexceptional across the campaigns analysed, meaning that there is
no bias in the findings resulting from the pattern of media investment.
The number of ROI cases supplied varied significantly by medium (see chart below).
As this was a study specifically exploring radio’s ROI effect within the mix it is
unsurprising that more ROI cases were supplied for radio than any other medium.
TV and press were also well represented with over one hundred ROI cases supplied
for each whilst, despite accounting for the second highest share of spend, online
saw the fewest reported ROI cases of any medium.

NUMBER OF ROI CASES BY MEDIUM

464

122 122
41 12
Radio TV Press Outdoor Online
Source: Radio ROI Dataset

Inevitably with a study of this nature collating data from a range of different sources
– all of which have different approaches to categorising and analysing their
campaigns – there were some gaps in the final dataset e.g. we were unable to
separate the digital case studies into Search and Display, as in many cases the data
was supplied categorised under the catchall of ‘Online’ (it is therefore assumed that
this pool consists of a mix of both search and display-related data); similarly we are
unable to break down ‘Press’ separately into newspapers and magazines.

NUMBER OF ROI CASES BY SECTOR

119

61 66 65
42
30 26
21 16 20

Automotive Finance FMCG Govt & Health Leisure Retail Services Telecoms Travel
Charity & Fitness & Ents
Source: Radio ROI Dataset

Page 9
 The campaigns covered most major sectors and, based on the qualitative
information supplied, tended to represent more established brands (which are by
definition more likely to have dedicated econometric modelling data).

B. DATA ANALYSIS
Once the Radio ROI Dataset had been collated, Holmes & Cook conducted five main
stages of analysis:

i) Data summary: ROI by medium and sector

The 517 sets of results were used to calculate the average ROIs for each medium
and each sector (where data was available). The average ROI calculation was based
on the mean of the individual ROIs supplied.
The subsequent four stages were all based on meta-regression analysis, a technique
that allows results from different research projects to be analysed as one dataset in
order to determine what the true, unbiased outcome is. This form of analysis is
commonly used in politics and medicine – allowing important patterns to be
extracted, for example, from a diverse set of political polls or pharmaceutical tests.
To the best of our knowledge this technique has not previously been used in the
field of media econometric analysis.

ii) Meta-regression analysis: Factors enhancing radio ROI

In 229 cases, sales uplifts due to radio were reported – these were used to
investigate the factors behind the variation in sales response when radio was used.

iii) Meta-regression analysis: Effect of media laydown on radio ROI

Within the 229 cases where sales uplifts due to radio were reported, radio campaign
outputs (e.g. coverage and frequency) from J-ET were available in 131 cases to
explore the impact of media planning factors on radio sales uplift.

iv) Meta-regression analysis: Creative features enhancing radio ROI

Also within the 229 cases where sales uplifts due to radio were reported,
radioGAUGE data was matched in 27 cases allowing for analysis of the creative
characteristics of higher performing radio campaigns.

v) Meta-regression analysis: Effect of radio investment on overall campaign ROI

In 132 cases, overall campaign ROIs were available – these were used to investigate
how varying levels of expenditure in different media impacted total campaign ROI.

Page 10 Partner agencies:

Stages of the analysis: approach, measure and number of cases

FIVE STAGES OF ANALYSIS

Data
ANALYSIS summary Meta-regression analysis

Overall
MEASURE ROI Radio sales uplift % campaign
ROI

ROI by Factors Coverage Effects Effects of

OUTPUT medium optimising & frequency of creative radio within
& sector radio effect effects features the mix

CASES 517 229 131 27 132

cases cases cases cases cases

Following the analysis stages detailed above, the findings from the study were
shared with the partner agencies/data suppliers prior to the public launch of the
report.

Page 11
 KEY FINDINGS FROM THE STUDY
A. REVENUE RETURN ON INVESTMENT FOR RADIO ADVERTISERS
Across the 464 radio advertised brands in the study with ROI information, the
average return on investment was £7.70. Put another way, this means that for every
pound spent on radio, the advertiser receives £7.70 back.
Note that the ROI featured in this analysis is Revenue Return on Investment
(rather than e.g. profit ROI) as this was the measure that most agencies reported.
This makes radio the second most efficient medium after TV in terms of ROI, which
aligns with the findings of Thinkbox’s Payback 3 study from 2011, which evaluated
profit ROI of the different media channels.

Chart - A1
AVERAGE REVENUE ROI FOR BRANDS ON RADIO IS £7.70
£8.70
£7.70

£5.80
£4.90

£2.00

464 122 122 41 12

Radio TV Press Outdoor Online
Source: Radio ROI Dataset (no. of cases shown in white)

B. VARIATION BY SECTOR
Radio return on investment is found to vary between sectors and this is illustrated in
Chart B1. The top performing category is retail, with an average ROI of almost £20
for each pound spent on radio advertising.
This variation in ROI by sector is neither unexpected nor peculiar to radio. The ROI
information from the IPA Databank also demonstrates differing returns from
individual sectors, with variances broadly analogous across the two datasets, where
comparisons can be made.
As we explore later, many factors can influence campaign ROI including
type/frequency of purchase, brand maturity and position in market. Clearly these
vary considerably from sector to sector and therefore influence the average ROI
results accordingly.

Page 12 Partner agencies:

To help place these radio ROIs into a more helpful context the next section explores
how sector averages vary across media within the Radio ROI Dataset.

Chart - B1
RADIO REVENUE ROI BY SECTOR
£18.9
£16.7

£11.0
£7.7
£6.0 £5.7
£2.3 £1.9 £2.4 £2.3
£0.9
All Automotive Finance FMCG Govt & Health Leisure Retail Services Telecoms Travel
Charity & Fitness & Ents
Average Radio Revenue ROI by Sector. Source: Radio ROI Dataset

C. HOW SECTOR AVERAGES VARY ACROSS MEDIA

Please note: media where there were fewer than five reported observations are not
shown, and sectors where radio was the only medium with 5+ observations are also
not shown.

i) Automotive
Radio comes top in the automotive category, with an average ROI of £6.00 across 42
observed campaigns, while press and TV are in second and third places respectively,
with ROI scores of £4.90 and £3.70.

Chart - C1
AUTOMOTIVE ROI PERFORMANCE BY MEDIUM
£6.00
£4.90
£3.70

42 12 15
Radio TV Press Outdoor Online
Insufficient cases for direct comparison: Outdoor (4 cases) £7.10; Online (2 cases) £17.90
Source: Radio ROI Dataset (no. of cases shown in white)

Radio’s positive result is unsurprising given the medium’s ability to communicate

with audiences in-car, deliver high share of voice for automotive brands relative to
other media, and its proven effect in driving people to engage with brands online –
an important goal of many automotive campaigns.

Page 13
 ii) Finance & Insurance

Chart - C2
FINANCE ROI PERFORMANCE BY MEDIUM
£2.30
£1.90

61 5
Radio TV Press Outdoor Online
Insufficient cases for direct comparison: TV (3 cases) £0.50; Outdoor (4 cases) £0.90; Online (3 cases) £1.70
Source: Radio ROI Dataset (no. of cases shown in white)

There are only two media available for comparison in the Finance & Insurance
categories, as there were fewer than five ROI observations in TV, outdoor or online.
Radio comes ahead of press with an ROI of £2.30 in this, one of the most
competitive advertising sectors.
Radio’s strong performance may be down to the way it reaches out beyond the
in-market audience and builds emotional connection with finance brands. Radio’s
ability to drive online behaviour is also important in this sector, because the internet
is now the most important customer interface for finance brands.

iii) Leisure and Entertainment

Chart - C3
LEISURE & ENTERTAINMENT ROI PERFORMANCE BY MEDIUM
£11.00
£8.70 £8.50

26 11 7
Radio TV Press Outdoor Online
Insufficient cases for direct comparison: Outdoor (4 cases) £2.90; Online (0 cases)
Source: Radio ROI Dataset (no. of cases shown in white)

Radio is the best performer for Leisure and Entertainment advertisers with an
average ROI of £11.00 over 26 campaigns.
It may be radio’s strong call to action which is making the difference in this category,
where many purchase decisions are one-off rather than habitual (e.g. tickets to
events).

Page 14 Partner agencies:

iv) Retail

Chart - C4
RETAIL ROI PERFORMANCE BY MEDIUM
£18.90

£11.50

£6.50

119 54 64
Radio TV Press Outdoor Online
Insufficient cases for direct comparison: Outdoor (0 cases); Online (1 case) £9.90
Source: Radio ROI Dataset (no. of cases shown in white)

This is the sector where radio has its highest ROI score of all at £18.90 for every
advertising pound spent – nearly three times the press average of £6.50.
Radio is famously able to speak to important retail audiences around shopping
occasions and at other critical times during the day e.g. mums during the school run.
Historically retailers have been very heavy spenders in the national press which like
radio, is consumed mainly during the “retail day” when stores are open. However,
with a higher share of media time, radio is more effective at building share of mind
for retail brands.

v) Travel

Chart - C5
TRAVEL ROI PERFORMANCE BY MEDIUM
£5.70

£4.10

£2.60
£1.40

65 13 17 11
Radio TV Press Outdoor Online
Insufficient cases for direct comparison: Online (1 case) £0.40
Source: Radio ROI Dataset (no. of cases shown in white)

Travel is a sector where the advantages of using radio are clear – radio comes top in
ROI terms, returning £5.70 on average for every advertising pound spent. This may
be because of radio’s ability to stimulate an emotional response coupled with its
strength at driving business online, where consumers access the travel brands
directly.

Page 15
 vi) FMCG

Chart - C6
FMCG ROI PERFORMANCE BY MEDIUM
£4.60
£3.80

£1.90
£1.00
66 18 7 11
Radio TV Press Outdoor Online
Insufficient cases for direct comparison: Online (2 cases) £2.80
Source: Radio ROI Dataset (no. of cases shown in white)

In this sector radio’s ROI score of £1.90 comes third, behind TV and press. TV has
historically always dominated the FMCG category, and this is true in this study with
over half of all FMCG campaign budgets (57%) still spent on TV.
Bearing in mind radio’s strategic qualities for FMCG brands - such as reaching
people around shopping occasions and ability to efficiently amplify the effects of TV
campaigns – this is a somewhat surprising result.
However, as the graph below shows, with an ROI of £24.00 at least one FMCG
advertiser has found a way for radio to match and exceed best ROI performance of
any other medium (a pattern that is repeated across most sectors in this study).

Chart - C7
FMCG BEST ROI PERFORMANCE BY MEDIUM
£24.00
£21.40

£13.60

£5.10
£3.10

Radio TV Press Outdoor Online

Source: Radio ROI Dataset

Because this isn’t an issue about audience – the main shopper audience is one of
commercial radio’s key constituencies, with 28 million tuning in every week – this
suggests that other factors, such as media planning and creative approach, can
make all the difference to radio ROI. We explore the influence of these in further
detail in the next section.

Page 16 Partner agencies:

D. BEST PRACTICE INSIGHT FOR RADIO PLANNING
As we have seen, individual brands can far exceed their sector’s average. So the
next stage of the analysis looked for correlations between high ROIs and variable
factors such as radio campaign laydown and creative characteristics.
Of the 229 cases where radio-generated sales uplift data (per £100K media spend)
was available, 131 also included J-ET data which allowed the researchers to
investigate the impact of coverage and frequency on sales.
The results were conclusive, if somewhat unexpected: in radio advertising, the
impact of increased coverage on sales is far stronger than that of frequency.
In the sample, the mean average weekly coverage was 16%, with a maximum of
40%. When this data was modelled against sales uplifts from radio, the results
demonstrate significantly improved returns at the higher coverage levels and
support optimising weekly coverage beyond the 40% limit of our dataset.
This is news for the way agencies normally plan radio as “the frequency medium”,
and suggests that coverage is the new touchstone for optimising radio
effectiveness.

Chart - D1
WEEKLY COVERAGE – EFFECT ON RADIO SALES UPLIFTS
3.1
Radio % Sales Uplifts Per £100K Spend

2.9

2.7

2.5

2.3 Radio returns improve

with higher weekly reach
2.1

1.9

1.7
12% 15% 19% 25% 30% 35% 40%
% Av Weekly Coverage
Source: Radio ROI Dataset
Base: Meta-regression Analysis, Radio Sales Uplifts, 131 cases

Page 17
 E. BEST PRACTICE INSIGHT FOR RADIO CREATIVITY
Having established the effect of media planning practises the next stage of the
analysis looked for correlations between high ROIs and creative characteristics,
sourced from radioGAUGE tests. Of the 229 cases with recorded sales uplifts, 27
also had radioGAUGE data, from which these findings have been derived.
The three factors which characterise strong sales uplift in this study are:
• standout (the advertising is distinctive from other brands)
• brand fit (the advertising fits with the brand’s character and wider
advertising campaign)
• clarity (the advertising message is simply expressed and comprehensible)

Chart - E1
BEST PRACTICE RADIO CREATIVITY

STANDOUT BRAND FIT CLARITY

I would listen Recognise the phrase/slogan Informative

Advertising I would remember Recognise the music/voice Clear and easy to follow
Clear who it’s for Speaks my language

Source: Radio ROI Dataset

Base: Meta-regression Analysis, Radio Sales Uplifts, 27 cases

These indicators harmonise very clearly with historical RAB analysis of effective
creativity:
• the Awareness Multiplier Study singled out engagement and brand linkage as
key requirements for powerful creative
• the Sales Multiplier Study highlighted simplicity, synergy with other media and
audio branding devices
• the Online Multiplier Study recommended good brand linkage & simplicity, but
also clear web direction for online follow-up
• ’Turning Art into Science’ emphasised the consistent use of audio brand cues
within different radio executions and across media

Page 18 Partner agencies:

F. HOW INCREASING RADIO’S SHARE CAN IMPROVE TOTAL CAMPAIGN ROI
As demonstrated in the chart below, the Radio ROI Dataset indicates a relationship
between improved overall campaign ROI and higher share of budget allocated to radio.

Chart - F1
AVERAGE CAMPAIGN ROI IS HIGHER
WHEN RADIO SHARE INCREASES
£8.2
£7.4
Average campaign ROI

£6.3

117 58 44
<10% 10-20% >20%
Radio % share of media budget
Average Campaign Revenue ROI vs. radio share of media budget (no. of cases shown in white).
Source: Radio ROI Dataset

In many respects, this is not surprising. As a basic premise, redeploying media

spend to more effective (higher ROI) media should mean that campaigns become
more efficient.
However, as we revealed in the sector-level analysis, many other factors can
influence outcomes at an overall campaign level, so we used meta-regression
analysis of the 132 overall campaign ROIs to identify the most efficient patterns of
media budget deployment involving radio taking all of these variables into account.
The charts on the following pages reveal the effect on overall campaign ROI of
reallocating budgets from individual media into Radio (Outdoor is not included
because no significant effect was identified within this analysis). The shape of the
curve identifies the point where moving money from other media eventually results
in diminishing returns.

Page 19
 i) Moving budgets from Online into Radio
There is a positive but minor uplift on overall campaign ROI of 0.9% resulting from
moving money from Online into Radio, with the effect optimised when Radio’s share
of total budget hits 11%. This limited effect is unsurprising given that Radio and
Online tend to play separate and often complimentary roles within a media plan (see
the RAB report: Radio – The Online Multiplier for further details).

Chart - F2
EFFECTS ON OVERALL CAMPAIGN ROI
REALLOCATING BUDGET TO RADIO FROM ONLINE
4.29
4.28
Total Campaign ROI

4.27
4.26
4.25 +0.9%
4.24
4.23
4.22
9% 10% 11% 12%
Radio share of campaign spend
Source: Radio ROI Dataset
Base: Meta-regression Analysis, Overall Campaign ROI, 132 cases

ii) Moving budgets from Press into Radio

When boosting Radio’s share funded by Press budgets, a larger increase in overall
campaign ROI of 2.4% is attained, optimised at 14% share of total campaign budget
for Radio. This is to be expected – Radio and Press often play similar tactical roles
within a plan, but Radio’s real-time communication can help reach out and
communicate messages more effectively with wider audiences (see the RAB report:
Using Radio with Newspapers for more information).

Chart - F3
EFFECTS ON OVERALL CAMPAIGN ROI
REALLOCATING BUDGET TO RADIO FROM PRESS
4.36
4.34
4.32
Total Campaign ROI

4.30
4.28 +2.4%
4.26
4.24
4.22
4.20
4.18
9% 10% 12% 14% 16%
Radio share of campaign spend
Source: Radio ROI Dataset
Base: Meta-regression Analysis, Overall Campaign ROI, 132 cases

Page 20 Partner agencies:

iii) Moving budgets from TV into Radio
The most significant effect on overall campaign ROI is found when TV budgets are
reallocated into Radio. Interestingly, within the data supplied by the agencies, we
were unable to identify an inflexion point with TV – there were no cases with large
enough radio budget deployments to disclose where the tipping point might come –
and overall campaign ROI is still growing with a 22% share of the media budget
allocated to Radio. Based on this budget allocation, overall campaign ROI is found to
increase by an impressive 19.3%.

Chart - F4
EFFECTS ON OVERALL CAMPAIGN ROI
REALLOCATING BUDGET TO RADIO FROM TV
5.20
5.00
Total Campaign ROI

4.80
4.60 +19.3%
4.40
4.20
4.00
3.80
9% 11% 14% 17% 20% 22%
Radio share of campaign spend
Source: Radio ROI Dataset
Base: Meta-regression Analysis, Overall Campaign ROI, 132 cases

Once again, when considering the context, this effect is not unexpected. Radio
allows advertisers to extend campaign reach very cost-efficiently and across the day,
reaching audiences at relevant times. When strong audio links are present with TV
creative, Radio is found to have a “Virtual TV” effect, prompting recall of the TV
campaign for a fraction of the cost. This effect was also highlighted in the Thinkbox
Payback 3 study which demonstrated how Radio ROI more than doubled when the
ads were creatively integrated with the TV campaign.

Page 21
 iv) Moving budgets proportionately from Online, Press and TV into Radio
The final analysis explores what happens to total campaign ROI when money is
moved pro-rata from all three other media – that is, in proportion to their overall level
of spend in the dataset. The increase in campaign ROI does not begin to tail off until
Radio’s share goes through 20%, at which point overall campaign ROI is 8.5%
higher.

Chart - F5
EFFECTS ON OVERALL CAMPAIGN ROI
REALLOCATING BUDGET TO RADIO FROM ALL MEDIA
4.70
4.60
Total Campaign ROI

4.50
4.40 +8.5%
4.30
4.20
4.10
4.00
9% 12% 14% 17% 20% 22%
Radio share of campaign spend
Source: Radio ROI Dataset
Base: Meta-regression Analysis, Overall Campaign ROI, 132 cases

These findings argue strongly in favour of redeploying budgets from other media
into Radio – especially the TV budget – but the optimum mix is likely to vary by
campaign depending on the current mix and relative effectiveness of individual
media, where known.
It’s clear from all of these projections that moving money into Radio from any of the
other media reviewed leads to increases in overall campaign ROI and therefore
increased returns. Based on reallocating budgets from all three media to achieve the
optimum Radio share of 20%, the top 100 UK advertisers alone could recoup over
£1.4bn in untapped revenue on their current media investment.

Page 22 Partner agencies:

IMPLICATIONS FOR ADVERTISERS
The conclusions of this study are clear: radio is currently underinvested in by
advertisers.
The Radio ROI Dataset highlights a distinct imbalance between ROI delivery and
level of investment by medium – as the chart below demonstrates, radio receives
the lowest share of media budgets yet achieves the second highest ROI.

ADVERTISERS ARE UNDERINVESTING IN RADIO

Average ROI by medium vs. share of media spend
44.3%

18.1% 20.1%
£8.70 11.7%
£7.70 5.8% £5.80 £4.90
£2.00
Radio TV Press Outdoor Online
Average ROI Share of media spend %
Source: Radio ROI Dataset

At a wider level, radio is demonstrated to deliver significant improvement in overall

campaign ROI when used optimally. To exploit this effect fully and unlock significant
gains in untapped revenue, advertisers should consider:
• increasing share of spend on radio to around 20%, subject to media mix
• maximising radio weekly audience coverage (rather than optimising
frequency)
• leveraging effective creative components (stand-out; brand-fit; clarity)
within radio executions

Implications for more effective econometric analysis of radio activity

This study highlights how understanding radio campaign delivery is an important
variable in optimising radio ROI, yet detailed data about campaign weights doesn’t
always bridge the gap between buyer and econometrician.
In consultation with our partner agencies in this project, the RAB and J-ET are
working to develop a campaign outputs report to feed into econometric analysis
which buyers will be able to share at the press of a button.
It is anticipated that this will be launched early in 2014 and incorporate information
along the following lines:
• Data supplied at an individual brand level
• Weekly GRPs/coverage/frequency by brand across each calendar year
• Split by day of week and time of day
• Provided in Excel format

Page 23
Appendix A: The data template
Brand Number
Radio Campaign Number
Category
Sub-Category
Number of Significant brands in market
Approximate ranking in market
Type of Purchase
Product Lifestage
Radio Campaign Timing (Year & Quarter)
Radio Campaign Regionality
If regional model, is ROI reported uplift at National or
Regional level?
Radio Campaign Media Investment (£)
Radio Campaign Number of Weeks
Total Radio GRPs (vs. National)
Total Radio Coverage % (vs. National)
Average Weekly Coverage % (vs. National)
Average Weekly Frequency
Was the campaign timed to enhance a seasonal peak?
Radio Campaign Target Audience
Radio copy integration with other media channels
Radio Campaign Focus
Radio Campaign Messaging
All Media Campaign Spend (£)
All Media Campaign Number of Weeks
Other Media 1 (channel)
Other Media 1 Spend (£)
Other Media 2 (channel)
Other Media 2 Spend (£)
Other Media 3 (channel)
Other Media 3 Spend (£)
Other Media 4 (channel)
Other Media 4 Spend (£)
Other Media 5 (channel)
Other Media 5 Spend (£)
Other Media 6 (channel)
Other Media 6 Spend (£)
Competitive Activity during campaign
t-statistic for Radio in model
Is the econometric model multiplicative?
Radio Campaign % Uplift per £100k in week or airtime
Radio % Weekly Retention Rate (%)
Radio Campaign ROI (Revenue per £)
Radio Campaign Profit ROI (Profit per £)
Radio Response Curve equation
Other Media 1 ROI (Revenue per £)
Other Media 2 ROI (Revenue per £)
Other Media 3 ROI (Revenue per £)
Other Media 4 ROI (Revenue per £)
Other Media 5 ROI (Revenue per £)
Other Media 6 ROI (Revenue per £)

Page 24 Partner agencies:

Appendix B: Media spend comparisons by sector

1. Automotive 4. Leisure & entertainment

Radio Online
Radio Online Online Radio
Online 7.4% 7.46% 10.8% Radio 4.7% 7.5% 7.1%
Outdoor 16.61%
23.4% 9.77% Outdoor
TV 15.5%
TV 30.5%
27.9%
Outdoor TV
Outdoor Press TV 36.5%
30.69% Press 47.1%
20.2% 35.48% 22.8%
Press Press
21.1% 17.5%

Radio ROI Dataset Overall Display Market Radio ROI Dataset Overall Display Market

2. Finance & insurance 5. Retail

Online 4.1% Radio

Radio Online Radio Radio 3.5%
Online 6.5% 13.5% 6.9% Online Outdoor 5.3%
10.5%
22.1% Outdoor 27.0%
7.1%
Outdoor TV
6.8% TV TV Outdoor 44.3% Press TV
Press Press 46.8% 6.2% 40.0% 41.2%
54.5% 25.7%
10.1% Press
19.1%

Radio ROI Dataset Overall Display Market Radio ROI Dataset Overall Display Market

3. FMCG 6. Travel

Online Radio Online 1.0% Radio Online Radio

Radio 3.9% Online
4.4% 7.2% Outdoor 9.7% 20.1% 5.8% 10.2% 7.0%
Outdoor Outdoor
21.2% 10.0%
Press Outdoor
24.1% 11.7% TV
Press TV 36.4%
10.1% TV TV 44.3%
61.2% Press
57.1% Press
36.5%
18.1%

Radio ROI Dataset Overall Display Market Radio ROI Dataset Overall Display Market

Source: Radio ROI Dataset and Nielsen AdDynamix MAT June 2013

Page 25
Appendix C: FAQs
Why did the study use “revenue return on investment” as its core currency?
Agencies were asked for several different figures for each campaign (see Data
Template), but this one was most consistently reported across the maximum
number of cases.
Do the average ROI scores take into account larger brands and volumes?
ROI scores are averaged to exclude the dominating effects of larger brands;
this also means that the averages focus on efficiency rather than absolute
volume of sales.
Why are there so many more radio cases than for other media?
The project was instigated by the radio industry, so radio was always going to
be central to the agencies’ replies: we did not set any quotas for reporting of
other media. The fact that only 12 cases were fully reported for online is
surprising, and may reflect the difficulty of evaluating ROI scores in that
medium.
Why use meta-regression analysis?
MRA is popular in fields which are heavily reliant on research, such as
medicine (e.g. reviewing the implications of drug trials with differing
methodologies) and social policy (e.g. in comparing different definitions of
child poverty). Its primary value here is that it allows us to combine the
econometric data of different agencies to extract a representative industry
average.
517 cases in a radio industry study but only 464 radio cases – why?
Some cases were excluded from the radio averages because of the methods
they had used to evaluate a radio campaign, such as cost-per-acquisition rather
than revenue return.
Why are average ROIs for each medium shown for only six categories?
Media where there were fewer than five reported observations are not shown,
and sectors where radio was the only medium with 5+ observations are not
shown.
What creative insights do the radioGAUGE tests hold?
For all the published data from the 600+ radioGAUGE tests, check out the
radioGAUGE pages at rab.co.uk

Page 26 Partner agencies:

References
RAB, The Awareness Multiplier, 2000
RAB, The Sales Multiplier, 2003
RAB, The Online Multiplier, 2010
RAB, The Emotional Multiplier, 2011
Advertising Association, Advertising Pays, 2013
Brand Science, OMC Study, 2009
Thinkbox, Payback 3, 2011

Research Agency
Holmes & Cook

Page 27
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020 7010 0700

[email protected]
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UNLOCK MILLIONS
WITH RADIO

Partner agencies:

The Radio Advertising Bureau, part of RadioCentre Ltd, is funded by the UK Commercial Radio industry to encourage national advertisers and their
agencies towards more effective use of radio as part of their communications mix. For further information, go to: www.rab.co.uk