How to Sell a Streaming Audio and Radio Spot Campaign

The Consumer Listening Dynamic

In the landscape of audio ads, consumers still regularly listen to broadcast radio. It’s the leader in ad-supported listening time and reaches 91% of people ages 18 and older weekly, according to Nielsen. Streaming audio, which describes listening to audio programming via the internet, is growing in listenership. It leans younger, as 91.1% of 16- to 24-year-olds tune in to this. Older demographics are increasing but not at this high of a rate.

With streaming audio and radio, your advertisers hit every type of customer in a medium that often has better recall and engagement than other ad forms. Pairing these two can be a win-win for you and advertisers.

The Framework of a Streaming Audio and Radio Spot Ad Campaign

To create a campaign that includes streaming audio and radio spots, you’ll start by defining the advertiser’s goal. It can range from brand awareness to driving sales to launching a new service or product. The second part is determining their ideal customer, which will impact the targeting, programming and dayparts you suggest.

The most effective way to present this is in one proposal highlighting all the campaign details. You’ll choose the programming and times for the radio spots along with the targeting for the streaming audio ads. Laying this out in one piece helps advertisers understand where the budget will go and how it will enable them to achieve their goals.

Now, let’s look at some ideas for combining these ad types.

Streaming Audio and Radio Campaign Ideas

Any industry can benefit from these ad types with the breadth of demographics. Here’s some inspiration for your pitches.

• Local health and wellness businesses: Many people are into healthy living and fitness, and these are often local-focused businesses, especially if they have a physical location. Using radio ads, you can recommend morning drive spots focusing on making healthy changes, as people may be more likely to listen when starting their day. Complement these spots with streaming audio programming in the genre with geographic targets.
• Real estate: Agents are consistent local advertisers who can take advantage of radio and streaming audio. They have a customer profile in mind — those looking to sell or buy. These on-air spots could get credibility coming from well-liked personalities. On streaming, geography will also be a target with programming for those interested in home improvement and real estate.
• Legal services: Attorneys and law firms are another local-centric advertiser that would fit well with streaming audio and broadcast radio. Third-party streaming audio is highly targetable and can align with a user’s previous online interactions on mobile or desktop. So, if they’ve been searching for legal services, it would be relevant to serve them an ad. On radio, the ad may function best as brand awareness that listeners may tuck away for the future.
• Travel and tourism: With radio spots, local attractions can engage residents to get season tickets or plan a staycation. Streaming audio can expand the audience to the geographic areas where travelers are more likely to come from. The combination of these ads ensures advertisers reach all their targets.