📻Radio accompanies its listeners throughout the day: at home, work, or in the car. The mobility of reception has been a significant advantage of radio compared to other media since its inception. Nowadays, with the advancement of technology, radio can be accessed not only at home, work, or in the car, but also online, through mobile apps, and via satellite and digital platforms (DAB+). This wide availability allows radio messages to reach potential customers in any location, including at the point of purchase. Radio is often called the “background medium” because it reaches the consumer in real-time and does not require their full attention. It’s important to note that consumers listen to radio stations when they are not consuming other media. Nevertheless, they also listen to the radio while surfing the Internet, reading newspapers, or browsing magazines. Radio thus complements and enhances the message and communication of other media.

📻 As many as 11.1 million residents of Poland turn on the radio in their cars daily. Since 2019, the car has become the most popular place to listen to the radio in Poland. In 2019, the car overtook the previously favored place for listening – the home, where 8.6 million people listen to the radio daily. Moreover, unlike other media (TV, Internet, or press), employers usually do not mind if employees listen to the radio while performing their duties. Every day, 3.8 million consumers listen to their favorite radio stations at work. Furthermore, radio remains the only medium that effectively reaches them in this place. It is forecasted that in the coming years, the dominance of the car over other places for listening to the radio will continue to increase. In developed countries like the USA or Canada, 90% of the audience admits to listening to the radio in the car.

📻 The growing number of car listeners over the past two decades is a good sign for radio. Two of the three largest advertising sectors for radio – retail (44% of radio advertising structure in 2024) and automotive (9% of spending structure) are related to this listening location. Radio in the car creates an opportunity to reach the consumer close to the point of purchase. This is crucial for many marketers who rely on the “freshness” effect, hoping that the consumer will make a purchase decision about their brand, whose qualities they just heard about on the radio while driving, moments before entering the store. It’s worth noting that 3 sectors: the aforementioned retail (44%), automotive (9%), and pharmaceuticals (17%) account for 70% of all radio advertising expenditures.

📻 56% of listeners admit to listening to just one radio station. Listeners often perceive radio ads as part of the program on the station. Interestingly, radio rarely uses the legally allowed 12 minutes per hour for advertising, meaning it is a medium characterized by low advertising clutter. Low media clutter significantly impacts the increased perception of radio’s advertising message. It is observed that listeners do not switch to other stations during commercial breaks. According to studies conducted in the USA, the percentage of radio station listeners after a commercial break is 93% compared to 100% before the break. Therefore, radio does not experience the “zapping” phenomenon, common in television, where viewers switch channels to avoid commercials.

Radio allows effective reach to target groups, differentiated by demographics (younger listeners, for example, listen to CHR format, while older ones prefer news & talk), but also by content (those focused on information listen to news & talk stations, and those interested in the latest hits – Eska Network or RMF Maxxx).

📻 Regional and local stations enable geographical selection, allowing precise targeting of key markets for marketers or effective reinforcement of messaging in those markets. It’s worth noting that very strong radio networks are built with local stations: Eska Network, RMF Maxxx, VOX FM, or Złote Przeboje. The Polish radio market consists of 312 stations tested for listenership parameters. Only 7 of them (RMF, Radio Zet, Jedynka, Trójka, Dwójka, Polskie Radio24, and Radio Maryja) are national stations, while 305 stations are local or regional. This means that practically in every voivodeship, an effective advertising campaign can be planned with their help.

SYNERGY OF RADIO AND OUTDOOR

📻 Media consumption is linked to the daily rhythm, dividing audience time into various activities and habits. While being in the urban space, in a bus, at university, or in a clinic with headphones on, we can receive two advertising channels simultaneously – audio and Outdoor/Indoor. Keeping this in mind, units that combine Outdoor and Radio planning have been established for a long time.

📻 Considering that radio has the highest listenership in the morning (on weekdays between 8:00 AM and 10:00 AM), it can also be effectively used later in the day to reinforce campaigns in other media such as OOH or public transport advertising.

📻 The sound in radio complements the visuals spread across other media. There is a phenomenon called “Imagery Transfer,” where sound stimulates the imagination and interacts with the visuals previously communicated in other media. When hearing a radio ad that uses sound elements familiar from a video spot, the consumer, aided by sound, visualizes those images in their mind. According to research conducted by Statistical Research Inc., 75% of respondents can recall visual elements of a TV ad by hearing only the sound.

📻 At the same time, it’s worth noting that OOH and Radio are complementary communication channels, combining the power of visual and auditory stimuli. Moreover, radio is often listened to in the car – at a time when consumers are passing by OOH and city transport ads. This media combination makes advertising communication more omnipresent and harder to ignore. The synergy of the audio message in radio ads with