The Liberal Party placed 50% more radio ads than the Labor Party in Sydney electorates during the two weeks leading up to the recent federal election.

The figures come from RCS’ Aircheck monitoring service, which shows that 808 Liberal Party ads went to air in the fortnight before polling day, while Labor only booked 527 ads across Sydney’s commercial radio stations. These figures are significantly more than in the preceeding weeks of the campaign.

While it is not clear whether the radio campaign helped the Liberals win, what is clear is that radio advertising is heavily used in the final days of an election campaign.

If the Electoral Act were amended to remove the archaic 3 day electronic media blackout period perhaps radio would get even more advertisements during that crucial period, because the intimate medium of radio is very effective in selling a message. Messages on radio ads would also be more likely to be heard on the way to the polling booth before casting a vote.