According to data released last week by Edison Research and Triton Digital, recognition of podcasting has increased. Familiarity with the term podcasting, having remained rather static from 2009 to 2015, has shown more than a twenty percent increase in the past two years. Now, an estimated 168 million Americans, 12 years and up, are familiar with the term. Podcasting consumption has also hit a new high, with 40% of Americans having ever listened to a podcast. An estimated 67 million of Americans are now listening to podcasts at least monthly.

Similar to radio, podcast audience members form relationships with hosts. According to AdAge.com, podcasts can engage listeners in a way that traditional media cannot. Furthermore, the podcasts that people download are carefully selected. Therefore, advertisers can perfectly target their audience depending on passions and interests.

What is interesting about this, however, is that a huge amount of brands are still not seeing the value in advertising with podcasts, even though a study conducted by comScore found that two-thirds of listeners have acted on ads they heard in a podcast either by researching a product or service or by actually purchasing something they first heard about in an episode.

Brands are choosing to stick with the “safer”, more traditional methods, which can often be more costly and time-consuming. Last year, America’s podcasting ad spend stood at a small 167 million dollars. Compare this to TV, where advertisers spent an estimated 72 billion dollars on this platform (Deloitte Global).

The world is turning to podcasts, which can be listened to anywhere – without requiring data usage or an internet connection. The mobility of podcasts means that listeners are consuming loads of content no matter where they are; the gym; at home or on their morning commute; and yet brands are still thinking that television and print media are the best advertising strategies. Let’s not even mention the fact that people find that ads within a podcast the least intrusive when compared with other types of digital adverts (comScore).

On the negative side, podcast advertising today is relatively static. Adverts are embedded within the podcast, so remain the same irrespective of when, where and who is listening to the podcast. However, it does not have to be that way; podcasters who use technologies such as Exaget’s ActiveRadio^® enable dynamic advertising and even connect to ad networks to deliver these advertisements real time.

Radio has been around for over a century and even with the rise of digital, it is still a very powerful medium. Last year, the UK’s commercial radio sector reaped its largest ever annual advertising revenue total, with spending worth £645.8 million (Radiocentre). Radio advertising offers businesses a cheap and quick way to get brand recognition as well as measurable results. Furthermore, radio offers an efficient way to target an audience.

Cost Effective

A huge benefit of radio advertising and what makes it so appealing to brands is that production and broadcast is so inexpensive. Most adverts only need one voice over, maybe two. At a low cost, brands can access sound effects and background music. Many stations offer free production to their advertisers, giving brands access to everything they need to produce a radio advert. Furthermore, advertising on local radio is a lot more cost-effective than television.

Measurable

Whilst advertising with TV takes months to give real measurable results and advertising with print makes it almost impossible to track results, radio advertising gives the ability to track results very quickly and accurately. Advertisers find the accuracy and swiftness of results which radio offers very attractive. It is a lot easier to spot if a radio ad is doing particularly well/badly than any other broadcast medium. This can also be seen within a few days and the fast turnaround time means advertisers do not have to fret over negative results. For example, if an advertiser is not seeing the results that they want, they can change their spot, or test a new message quickly and with little hassle.

Expedient

Another benefit of radio advertising is the speed at which radio adverts can air. It can take months for a high quality television advert to air. On the other hand, a quality radio advert can be written, produced and aired in as little as one week. Radio stations also allow advertisers to revise their messages at very short notice.

Targeted

Advertising with radio also hits a target audience easily. Local brands will benefit from the fact that your station’s audience is local. Local radio attracts people who want to keep up with everything local; be it local news; events or personalities.

Furthermore, advertisers can reach a specific target audience with radio. Radio stations know their audience demographics and allow advertisers to tailor and localise messages to each audience. Because each radio station operates with specific market segments in mind, advertisers can target a specific gender, age economic status or even people’s likes/dislikes.

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Combats Ad Avoidance

When TV adverts come on, most people will go on their phone or divert their attention until their show comes back on. With radio, you cannot ‘switch your ears off’; we hear even when we are not listening. This means that even if we are diverting out attention to other things, we still automatically process music and sound bites and then link them to brands. It is extremely difficult for radio listeners to avoid adverts. Therefore, it is a lot easier to engage with an audience on radio than other mediums.

Intimate

Last but not least, Radio is an intimate form of advertising. Listeners develop relationship with their favourite stations and bond with the radio presenters; a lot of listeners listen to the radio alone, such as when they are travelling or before going to sleep. Listeners usually trust their favourite station a lot, making them more likely to trust the station’s advertisers and therefore lead them to make purchases.