Radio Advertising Space: Why Advertisers Use It

Radio advertising offers space twenty-four hours a day, generally in 15-, 30- or 60-second advertising spots. Advertisers buy radio space because it is affordable, offering low-costs per spot (compared to print advertising), and presents the advertiser the ability to target and reach a specific listening audience. These can be key factors in making a radio space purchase for an advertiser.

Radio advertising space was in its heyday from the early 1920s to the early 1950s, with soap operas, network shows and evening entertainment broadcast to audiences new to any form of electronic media. It became a source of instant news and information previously not available to the public, and the precursor to television.

Since the 1950s, radio has competed with television and now, other electronic media, to keep its listeners, and has changed and evolved over time. Today there are 50+ stations to listen to in nearly every major market, with a variety of types of radio stations operating in each. Still, radio advertising space is usually more affordable than television broadcast space, and offers more availability in terms of ad space for local advertisers than television. Television space, especially during prime viewing hours, is not always available or affordable because it has been reserved for national advertising buyers.

Radio offers the advertiser the opportunity to reach specific audiences, since each radio station operates under a specific format. Listeners may choose to listen to radio stations who play rock ‘n roll, or country music, or oldies. Top 40 stations play the most popular music young people are listening to, with hip-hop and alternative music stations also gaining in popularity. The common factor is all of these radio stations offer advertising space that comes with the content, or format, of the station.

Easy listening is another format and has gained popularity in recent years because listeners tune in to the station while working, companies use the station as part of their telephone holding system (you listen to music while you’re on hold), and it’s generally milder, tamer music, not distracting or taking away from the work being performed. Does this mean commercials are never played, even for competing businesses, while we’re at work? Certainly not – we know we’re receiving advertising messages, even from competing businesses, while we’re tuned in listening for the content of our choice.

Some radio stations operate under a news format, or talk format, both of which have very specific listeners. In talk formats, there are subcategories of stations that have recently gained in popularity, such as news talk, sports talk, or religious talk radio stations.

We live in an information age but everyone doesn’t have access to all the information because everyone doesn’t necessarily have the equipment or time to access it. Not everyone subscribes to and watches cable television. Not everyone has access to a computer and the internet, or the knowledge to use it. Not everyone reads the newspaper or magazines, or watches a lot of local television, due to time constraints and the speed of life.

But everyone listens to the radio at some time, whether we actively choose to or not, and receives advertising messages between other content broadcast.

When a call is made to a local business, and the caller placed on hold, many times we’re made to listen to a local radio station while we wait. We may not have chosen to listen to the radio, or tune in to a specific station at that moment, but listening has become a part of doing business with the company we called.

Radio has become very accepted in the workplace for many people, where watching television, or reading magazines or newspapers aren’t so acceptable. And, listeners can tune in to the radio while they perform other tasks, including driving, without disturbance. The listener is constantly exposed to ad messages, which makes radio space an appealing part of an advertising buy.