Westwood One Offers Guaranteed ROI For Advertisers

Westwood One, as the largest radio network in the United States, is announcing a new program to help advertisers feel more secure in their radio ad purchases.

In a first for the industry, Westwood One is giving their ad partners an ROI guarantee, according to AdWeek.

Its partnership with Nielsen proves there’s strong evidence for radio’s positive ROI across multiple brand categories. That partnership connected radio listening with purchasing data, and when combined with Westwood One’s new audience delivery guarantee, the radio network can give its advertisers an ROI guarantee.

With the Westwood One ROI Guarantee program, creative for these commercials will be pre-tested against industry audio creative test norms and Nielsen will measure return on advertising spend on behalf of the radio campaign. Those tests will run across the entire broadcast radio landscape, giving clients a wider scope of the industry.

Suzanne Grimes, evp of corporate marketing of Cumulus Media and president of Westwood One, hopes this will be a step toward brand safety and a more secure metric of performance across radio.

“We’ve been working for the past couple of years to help break some of the myths and misunderstandings of radio,” Grimes told Adweek. “Historically, radio hasn’t been able to step up and participate in discussions of data, insights and confidence. With this new program, we’re able to marry reach of radio and results from our listeners.”

Westwood One currently reaches 245 million listeners each week across 8,000 affiliated broadcast stations and media partners. If the ROI is not positive, clients who qualify for the ROI Guarantee program will receive no-cost supplemental media weight from Westwood One to deliver the guaranteed ROI.