Dentsu Media has released the radio portion of its attention economy study.

And although the research was conducted in the U.S. by consumer attention measurement platform Lumen Research, Sarah Thompson, president of Dentsu Media Canada says the trends in the report do translate to Canada. The Canadian agency is looking at doing similar attention studies in this country.

Lumen Research ran a 70-minute online study of regular listeners of radio in the U.S. consisting of 400 adults 18-plus, in addition to a control cell of 250 respondents who were recruited based on the same criteria. Participants were exposed to three 120-second ad breaks comprised of 15- or 30-second ads from five advertisers.

Within the study, levels of audibility were high with both 15- and 30-second ads being audible for the entire length of the ad. These exposure times are most like TV 15s and 30s, and 5-second ads on social media. This shows that, on an attention CPM basis (aCPM), how much it costs to generate 1,000 seconds of attention to advertising, radio is the most cost-effective medium.

Brand recall for 30-second radio ads was 38%, with that percentage of people correctly identifying the brand post-exposure. Respondents were presented with a choice of 10 brands from the same category (one of which was a test brand) and then told to select which brands they remember. This result is at parity with Dentsu norms across platforms. Recall for 30-second ads was one-and-a-half times higher than for 15-second ads.

Caroline Gianias, president of Radio Connects says the study is a great validation for what many who have worked in the industry for a long time have always known – attention to messaging is key in connecting an advertiser’s media objective to delivering business outcomes.

“This study substantiates that radio listeners pay more attention to what they hear on the radio than any other audio or video platform. This is predominantly attributed to the strong relationship that radio listeners have with the audio broadcast content they consume,” says Gianias.

She added that Angus Reid was commissioned by Radio Connects in 2021 to delve “into the diverse needs’ states fulfilled by various audio platforms [and found] that while Canadians appreciate all types of audio, not all audio platforms offer the same user experience or cater to the same set of needs. Of great significance, especially when it comes to capturing attention, is the element of trust,” she adds.

“Countless publications, including Radio on the Move, and more, have highlighted that no other media platform matches the level of trust that listeners place in AM/FM Radio. This trust extends to the brands they hear on the radio, further enhancing the credibility and effectiveness of advertising on this platform.”

“Radio garners attention and does it more efficiently than digital and TV,” adds Thompson. “You hear the entire ad and you are captive to the advertisement, outside of listening to the traffic of our major cities.”

Thompson also told MiC that it’s crucial to think beyond Canada’s five major cities and start to consider what immigration and other markets are that are growing. “Moncton grew the fastest of any CMA and I imagine the top radio stations there aren’t making it into enough media plans. It’s time for marketers and media planners to look at 91.9 The Bend in Moncton and all the other radio stations across Canada.”