Local radio has long been an effective program for political campaigns, and many radio companies are counting on a bounty of political ad dollars to fill their coffers in Q4.
But, is radio as impactful as television in influencing undecided voters? Katz Radio Group research conducted in partnership with Veritonic suggests the answer is yes.
“For many political campaigns, success on November 6, 2018 hinges on the ability to win support from swing voters,” Katz notes. “With these votes up for grabs, it is imperative that campaigns do their very best to court them.”
New evidence suggests that Radio’s ability to speak to and influence crucial swing voters has not ebbed.
That’s why Katz partnered with Veritonic, an audio effectiveness firm not to be confused with Veritone Inc., to conduct ongoing research that quantifies the impact Radio advertising has on the electorate and to develop best practices for producing effective Radio copy.
The case study Katz and Veritonic used is one many attending the 2018 Radio Show in Orlando can relate to.
Initial research focused on the state of Florida and its hotly contested race for U.S. Senate, pitting Democratic incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson against Republican Gov. Rick Scott.
Veritonic measured the opinions of swing voters who will vote in the upcoming election but are undecided on the candidate they support. Political ads were tested for their ability to emotionally resonate with swing voters and drive candidate preference.
One group of Florida swing voters viewed a TV commercial from the Nelson campaign. The spot featured Nelson speaking about his dedication to the country, accompanied by visuals of his past service.
A second group of swing voters listened to the audio track from this same TV spot.
The TV spot’s audio bed was used as a proxy for Radio, since the Nelson campaign was not running Radio ads at the time of fieldwork.
Veritonic then compared the feedback from both groups.
“Radio creative, by itself, can deliver an emotional impact on par with Television,” it declared. “Across all key metrics, the audio spot successfully conveyed positive feelings to swing voters. On Trust, the audio spot delivered 93% of the impact generated from the TV spot. For Sincerity, the audio was 97% as impactful as Television.”
Audio performed better than TV on the metric of Inspiration, too, as swing voters found the audio spot to be 9% more inspiring than the TV spot, Veritonic found.
After listening to the audio spot, swing voters were 8% more inclined to vote for Bill Nelson – the same measured lift for those swing voters exposed to his TV spot, Veritonic concluded.
“The results of this study are very clear,” said Stacey Lynn Schulman, Chief Marketing Officer for Katz Media Group. “Radio has the ability to be every bit as effective in impacting voter intentions as TV. As we near the end of the midterm election cycle, Radio should be considered an efficient medium that provides comparable impact in a less cluttered political media environment.”
