Advantages of Radio Advertising

Radio offers many unique advantages to advertisers and with over 300 commercial radio stations in the UK, efficient targeting is one of its core strengths.

If you want to talk to classical music buffs, housewives in Bognor Regis, sports fans, 16-24 year olds in London or rock fans in the West Midlands, then radio offers you a solution in an environment where the listener feels comfortable. This in turn allows you to talk to them in a way that is appropriate.

Radio has the ability to reach people at relevant times and places. If you want to talk to them about cars why not do it when they're in their car? If you want to talk to them about work, then speak to them while they are there, and similarly if you want to direct them online, why not talk to them when they're consuming a medium which enhances the online experience? Radio has the ability to do all of this, with one recent study showing that radio increases online brand browsing by an average of 52%.

Radio is also an incredibly responsive medium and often first for information.

47% choose radio as the most important source of info, primarily because if there's a breaking news story the stations have the flexibility to talk about it there and then.

Radio is also able to break through in an ad avoidance world.

With increasingly savvy consumers and the rise of products like on demand TV, it's harder to offer advertisers a media solution that isn't going to suffer from ad avoidance. Commercial radio listeners happily accept good quality radio commercials, and don't avoid them in the way they do with other media channels.

• Radio is immediate and flexible; campaigns can be booked and on air within 24 hours, and copy can be changed to respond to changing trading environments very promptly.

And finally, but must crucially, radio is a friend. Radio is a unique environment, as listeners feel that they have a personal relationship with the presenters; they feel that the presenters are speaking directly to them and any information they hear is trusted - in the same way that you trust your friends. It also means that listeners hear commercial messages in an environment where they feel happy, and ultimately they are then more responsive to the message.