Frequency is the most important factor in maximising listener recall of radio ads.
Two recent Australian studies confirm the importance of frequency, but there is conflict about other findings in the surveys.
The most recent research, conducted for Austereo by ‘The Leading Edge’ research agency, found that ad placement and number of ads in a break did not affect recall. But earlier research conducted by the University of South Australia for DMG Radio asserts that the fewer ads there are in a break, the better the recall.
The research has found a “clear and direct link between the frequency an advertisement is played and the ability of listeners to recall that advert later in the day.”
Senior ‘Leading Edge’ Consultant, Alan Bowman says: “This is robust, convincing data gathered in real life situations and not from a research laboratory, and that’s very important… The beauty of this study is that it is a pure comparison and the results come through in black and white”.
The Austereo research was conducted in Sydney over two weeks. Researchers interviewed 1200 people who were broken into two equal groups, which were matched on all variables except the main radio station they listened to. Each person was asked which adverts they could recall from five different ones which had been played on both stations.
While Austereo and DMG agree on the major finding – more frequency equals more recall, they disagree on the other results.
The ‘Leading Edge Agency’ findings support Austereo’s programming philosophy, while the Uni of South Australia findings support Nova’s programming philosophy of no more than two ads per break.
In addition to its major finding on frequency, the ‘Leading Edge Agency’ research also found ad recall was “not affected by the number of ads in a break and was not affected by its position in a break.” The research found:
* Number of ads in a break has no discernable impact on ad recall
* Placement in a break has no discernable impact on ad recall
* Frequency is the key driver for ad recall
* Length of time spent listening aids ad recall
The results showed that, if frequency was the same, ad recall was the same – regardless of whether the station had been playing two adverts per break or six.
Austereo’s Director of Sales Strategy & Corporate Development Michael Anderson told radioinfo: “Recently there has been considerable debate about the need for frequency, should the radio ad exist in a less cluttered environment. This research highlights this assertion as simplistic and fundamentally flawed.”
The ‘Leading Edge Agency’ findings represent the first stage of a three-stage research project being undertaken by Austereo which will next look at the role of creative, and the effect of mind and mood. For example, which adverts work best when you’re eating breakfast, or when you are driving home?
“As Australia’s leading radio network we see it as our responsibility to be in a position to help clients create the most effective radio advertising they possibly can. We have found that frequency is the key driver of recall,” said Anderson.
“They got the Frequency part right,” according to Nova, but the ‘Leading Edge’ Agency’s other research results are in dispute.
DMG Group Sales Director, Keith Thomas says: “We strongly support the proposition that radio is an excellent frequency medium.” But that is where the agreement stops. “Ad frequency becomes particularly important in compensating for the effectiveness which
is lost in big blocks of commercials,” according to Thomas.
Explaining the different results Thomas says: “The University of South Australia’s original ground breaking study, commissioned by DMG to objectively assess the impact of clutter and ad placement within a block, utilised a different and, we believe a more reliable, methodology to the most recent study. This may explain these results.”
The “academically conducted Ad Recall Study,” released earlier this year by the
University of SA, found that:
* The less ads you hear, the more likely you are to recall them.
* Ads in the middle of a big block of commercials get lost in the clutter.
Erica Riebe of the Marketing Science Centre, University of SA explains the methodology of that survey: “When we set out to assess the impact of advertising clutter on listener recall, we decided to actively control the test environment to ensure that known distortion factors
including ad likeability and general market noise were removed as effectively as possible from the recall
results. This is very difficult to achieve in an open, uncontrolled market environment.”
Keith Thomas says: “Nova’s unique ‘never more than 2 ads in a row’ sales environment continues to be enormously
effective for advertisers across Australia… We understand why some traditional radio people would wish to defend the ‘old way’ of scheduling radio commercials… It works for radio. But, in the end, a selling environment of just 2 commercials in a row is so powerful that advertisers around the world will insist that the big blocks of commercials must go.”
Similar research in the UK called “The Jigsaw Study (structure of the break)” – conducted 1994 by Bournemouth University, for Classic FM and the GRW Group is also of interest for this debate. It can be found at www.rab.co.uk/index1.asp