For the first time, the combined reach of TV and radio has been documented in a large scale, five market study fusing Nielsen’s Radio and Television People Meter data. Past studies by the PreTesting company have measured an increase of unaided brand recall of over 34% when using both radio and TV vs. TV alone. In this new study, Nielsen worked with the CBS TV and radio properties in five markets to demonstrate the power of combining media buys for major advertising campaigns. Nielsen was able to measure combined and unduplicated reach across both media. The result? Using local TV and radio together achieved incredible reach. In the five markets measured, advertisers reached anywhere from 84 to 93 percent of adults 25-54 within a week, compared to 25 percent market reach with TV only or 18 percent with radio only.
Targeting each media’s strengths further demonstrated the complementary nature of radio and TV. Radio’s prime time is during the day, starting at 6am, with TV peaking in prime time evenings after radio’s listening hours subside around 7pm. In one example for a quick service restaurant, combining TV prime time and late news with radio’s morning drive delivered 85% of adult 18-49 QSR buyers within four weeks. The opportunity to generate meaningful impact for the restaurant’s lunch business is huge.
“The consumer is in the driver’s seat and engages with media and marketing messages in an increasingly dynamic way,” stated Lynda Clarizio, President of US Medida, Nielsen. “Developing representative and industry standard models of cross media measurement allows the industry to have confidence in their planning decisions and empowers a healthy marketplace.”
“Industry standard measurement is a first step toward showing large advertisers what local advertisers already know – there is a lot of value to combining local Television and radio in a media buy,” stated David Poltrack, chief research officer for CBS.
Radio and Television are the most popular media in the world and the ability to document their combined reach is a meaningful tool for mass reach in a fragmented marketplace. Fragmentation makes mass reach media more important, not less.