Study: AM/FM Radio Generates Lift in Website Traffic

RADIO ONLINE | Tuesday, November 26, 2019 | 10:57am CT

Westwood One

Westwood One, in conjunction with data from LeadsRx, looked at online behavior for a major jewelry retailer during a recent national AM/FM radio campaign. They found that broadcast radio drove an +11% lift in online behavior. As a result of the campaign, the jewelry retailer saw an +11% increase in their site traffic. The boost was +38% greater than the average for the jewelry category as measured by Analytic Owl's analysis of 92 AM/FM radio campaigns reported by the Radio Advertising Bureau.

The study also found:

AM/FM radio campaign effect by week
Throughout the course of the AM/FM radio campaign, the highest rate of conversion occurred in early December. The greatest share of attributed web sessions (27%) occurred from December 3rd through the 9th, followed by 20% of attributed web sessions taking place the following week.

AM/FM radio campaign effect by day of the week
The jewelry retailer saw spikes in web sessions in the middle of the week and on Sundays. On Thursdays, ad occurrences comprised 16% of the total impressions of the jewelry retailer's campaign, while accounting for 19% of the attributed web sessions. On Sundays, 12% of total campaign impressions ran, driving 14% share of the attributed web sessions to the jewelry retailer site.

AM/FM radio campaign effect by daypart
Jewelry shoppers are browsing during the evenings. From 7PM-midnight, 47% of the total attributed web sessions took place. Middays 10AM-3PM also drove significant web visitation with 24% of attributed sessions.

A variety of AM/FM radio formats resonate with jewelry shoppers
The 22% of total ad impressions that ran on Adult Contemporary stations drove 34% of total web sessions. Country, Rock, Classic Hits, and Classic Rock format stations drove a greater share of web traffic than their share of campaign ad impressions. These formats represent an opportunity for jewelry retailers to reallocate greater weight and achieve increased reach and campaign impact.

Radio ads highlighting compelling offers performed best
Eight different offers were run during the jewelry retailer's campaign. Ad occurrences featuring 'price match' accounted for 24% of attributed web sessions and 'rewards' offers creative drove 23%.