Report: Radio and Podcast Ads Lead in Attentiveness

CUMULUS MEDIA and Westwood One’s Audio Active Group ® (AAG) today released a new Media Attentiveness and Ad Skipping Rechport. The report incorporates several new studies that examine consumer attentiveness and concentration levels when using various media platforms, ad-skipping tendencies, and the reasons why listeners choose to use various audio platforms.

“Our new Media Attentiveness and Ad Skipping Report demonstrates that AM/FM radio leads all media in advertising attentiveness with the lowest levels of ad skipping,” said Suzanne Grimes, EVP, Marketing for Cumulus Media and President, Westwood One. “Consumers also devote very high levels of concentration to podcasts since listeners actively seek them out to learn something new, which justifies premium CPMs for podcasts.”

The report reveals valuable insights for marketers, agency media planners, and buyers. Some highlights include:

• Attention grows in importance among marketers and agencies: Nearly half of advertisers have discussed consumer attentiveness as a metric. Two out of three say it is important for measuring media investments.
• Traditional media ads have greater engagement compared to digital ads: AM/FM radio, print, and podcast ads lead in attentiveness. Consumers skip social and digital ads the most.
• Social media disconnect: Agencies/marketers overestimate consumer concentration of social media. Two consumer studies reveal social media has the lowest attentiveness of media platforms.
• AM/FM radio CPMs should be a premium to Pandora and Spotify: Pandora/Spotify audio impressions are not the same as AM/FM radio impressions. The greater proportion of spoken word content on AM/FM radio generates much higher levels of concentration and attentiveness. The information and personalities of AM/FM radio satisfy consumer need states for information and connection.
• Audio platforms satisfy unique need states: AM/FM radio is associated with information, connection, and entertainment. Podcasts are a source of information, learning, and entertainment. Music streaming entertains, relaxes, and lifts moods.
• High CPMs for podcasts are warranted: Podcasts generate high attentiveness levels as they satisfy multiple “lean-in” consumer need states: information, learning, and entertainment.

The Media Attentiveness and Ad Skipping Report from the CUMULUS MEDIA | Westwood One Audio Active Group® is available in full for download at WestwoodOne.com/blog. Reports are available on the blog as part of CUMULUS MEDIA’s commitment to share insights and research findings with the marketing community.