When it comes to the “connected car” and the dashboard of tomorrow — or, for some vehicle owners, today — strong visual entertainment could be paramount to securing consumption time as the prospect of autonomous vehicles and gigantic screens become more omnipresent. That’s why QUU, the company founded by Chief Technology Officer Joe Harb and led by CEO Steve Newberry, is devoted to bringing rich visuals to partner radio stations.
Now, it’s released a study that demonstrates just how important a radio station should look when tuned to while on the road.
QUU, which has built its business around the concept of providing easy deployment of visual content for radio, on Tuesday released a study conducted on its behalf by Quantilope.
The big takeaway? The report concludes that visual radio ads drove “dramatic” lifts in awareness, consideration, and consumer action for all of the brands tested.
The project utilized Quu’s Content Partnership sponsorship, which is available nationally through the Quu Visual Network (QuuVN).
Among the key findings are that visuals matter. Some 83% of respondents pay attention to what’s on screen while listening to broadcast radio. Then, there is the full-funnel impact, as Quu found that visual radio displays resonate strongly with loyal radio audiences, “significantly boosting brand metrics across the marketing funnel, including a 89% increase in purchase intent.”
Stronger brand recall was also seen, as visual radio ads increased slogan familiarity by 57%, the study found.
Furthermore, heavy radio listeners exposed to the visual-only Content Partnership sponsorship reported significant gains across key brand metrics: brand familiarity (+50%), favorability (+58%), purchase consideration (+56%), purchase intent (+89%), and brand usage (+64%).
“Combining radio’s most connected and loyal audiences with the power of a Visual Quu on screen generated a huge lift in brand equity for advertisers across the entire marketing funnel,” said Newberry. “This study confirms that visuals displayed on dashboard screens move consumers from awareness to action.”
QuuVN EVP Sam Rogers added, “This research sends a strong message to advertisers, especially national brands, that visuals displayed on the radio dramatically increase purchase consideration, intent, and usage. Brands have a powerful opportunity to supercharge campaigns by adding visual radio ads to their media mix.”
The Quantilope study was conducted in March and April 2025 with a sample of 1,219 respondents. It measured the impact of in-dash visual ads for national advertisers in six categories: Retail (Convenience), Consumer Packaged Goods, Insurance, Financial Services, Retail (Automotive Aftermarket), and Quick Service Restaurants. Specific brands were not disclosed.
Using QuuVN’s Content Partnership sponsorship, brand messages appeared on vehicle dashboards across 374 radio stations in 75 U.S. markets.
Each brand averaged more than 2,000 minutes of screen time per station during station programming and approximately 4,000 visual ad impressions per station per month. There was no accompanying commercial audio, ensuring pure visual impact.
Download the full 18-page Case Study in PDF format by clicking here.
