Radio in today’s landscape

As digital advertising reaches new heights… a couple of questions come to mind.

Is there still a market for the traditional advertising medium of radio and can digital alone serve all our needs?

Before you start churning out your answer, here’s a mind-blowing statistic: In a Nielsen “Global Trust in Advertising” Report, word-of-mouth proved to be the most powerful influencer of all.

And what is the number one word-of-mouth medium? Radio, of course!

The Radio Advertising Bureau of America commissioned a study on radio’s ability to deliver robust return on investment for advertisers. The results? Astounding. Radio drove a total of 228% more search than TV, as well as an average 29% lift in Google search among the eight advertising platforms included within the study.

Coming back to Malaysia, according to the Radio Audience Measurement 2018 study, as many as 14.1 million Malaysians tune into radio’s breakfast shows while 13.6 million tune into the drive time slots.

Radio also has the highest social media engagement compared to TV, Newspapers and Magazines as reported in the most recent Gfk Radio Insights release.

A key reason for radio’s ability to stay relevant and ingrained in people’s lives is because it can now be consumed on the go via mobile devices.

The radio landscape in Malaysia has evolved from a platform interaction into powerful brand journeys.

Take Astro Radio for instance, its gone beyond the airwaves and can now be found virtually everywhere – mobile, digital, social media, on-ground, talent, even e-commerce – to cater to its 15.3 million socially connected fans.

Astro Radio is a prime example of how a radio-centric organisation can evolve into creating dynamic multi-platform content and unique branded content opportunities for its host of client partners.

It’s no surprise that many of the very successful Malaysian marketing campaigns leverage on radio.

One that comes to mind is the award-winning ERA & HITZ Wonda Sales Superstar campaign. By building on the strengths of HITZ and ERA, the campaign reached over 3.9 million Malaysians and its sales target was hit 2 days early.

In another instance, Spritzer was looking to build product and brand awareness for their health beverage Bon Rica. To help them do that, Astro Radio created a web series called “Lost Without You” using its MY radio brand’s talents, and seamlessly incorporating Bon Rica bottles in the storyline.

The web series garnered over 2.4 million views across YouTube and Facebook.

So why do we even categorise Radio as a traditional medium or platform when it has so clearly demonstrated its shift to multi-dimensional? In fact you could argue that an integrated radio brand buy is truly the most effective and efficient way to reach and engage with your target audience.

No doubt about it, radio will continue to rule!