Add All Media Together? Radio Still Wins Reach

Story by Inside Radio

Radio is, once again, the nation’s top reach medium. But the real story is that’s only part of the bigger overall takeaway. The introduction of Nielsen’s second-ever Comparable Metrics report may help radio in the battle for a bigger slice of the ad pie.

That the finding was reported by Nielsen in its new Comparable Metrics Report using the same “apples to apples” metrics to measure TV, radio, TV-connected devices, PCs, smartphones and tablets should go down as the bigger headline.

First, the numbers: AM/FM radio reached over 90% of all adults in a given week during third-quarter 2015, a percentage that is consistent across demos—92% among 18-34 year-olds, 95% for 35-49-year-olds and 91% for persons 50+. TV is a close second, reaching 85% of all adults. Smartphones reach 74% of all adults—86% of persons 35-49. But after that there is a steep drop-off. PCs reach half of all adults, followed by TV-connected devices (40%) and tablets (29%).

“Radio is the only media platform that’s consistently delivering more than 90% of every adult demographic on a weekly basis. Not even TV is able to do that,” says Stacey Schulman, executive VP, strategy & analytics, Katz Media Group. “That’s phenomenal in a world where we’re constantly fighting for our fair share of dollars.”

The introduction of Nielsen’s second-ever Comparable Metrics report may help radio in the battle for a bigger slice of the ad pie. The report is a departure from siloed measurements that have made comparisons of one media to another difficult. It was “sorely needed,” Schulman says, because the new findings put radio “in the mix” of total media usage estimates for the first time. “This helps us understand the landscape better in an apples-to-apples way,” she says.