Industry News

Westwood One: Marketers Underestimate Consumers Time Spent with Media

According to this week’s blog from the Cumulus Media | Westwood One Audio Active Group, marketers and agencies tend to dramatically underestimate the amount of time consumers spend with certain media, including AM/FM radio. Based on data from Nielsen’s Total Audience Report, “Marketers/agencies dramaticallyim underestimate time spent with AM/FM radio. While they believe Americans spend 9% of their media time with AM/FM radio, the reality is 15%.” Why is this? The report cites two reasons. First, longtime ad agency executive Bob Hoffman says, “How can professional people who work in an industry that is largely constructed on media behavior be so astoundingly misinformed? The answer is pretty simple… marketers always overestimate the attraction of new things and underestimate the power of traditional consumer behavior.” Second, marketing professor Mark Ritson adds, “There is increasing global evidence that marketers are basing their media choices on their own behavior or that stoked by the digitally obsessed marketing media, rather than actual audience data.” Read the blog post here.

Industry News

2023 Radio Mercury Award Winners Announced

The winners of the 2023 Radio Mercury Awards were announced last night (6/8) during the 32nd annual awards presentation held at SONY Hall in New York. RAB president and CEO Ericaim Farber, who also serves as chair of Radio Creative Fund, says, “Tonight was another great night for radio, celebrating the creativity that agencies and radio stations are producing on behalf of their clients. The Radio Mercury Awards continues to advance the medium forward by showcasing and awarding work that is innovative and effective.” This year’s Radio Marketer of the Year Award was presented to Procter & GambleSee (and hear!) all the winners here.