A Maru April 2023 theatrical study that asked respondents if they heard of some upcoming movie titles focused on those who said “yes.” The key finding? Heavy podcast and broadcast radio listeners are more aware than heavy television viewers.
Cumulus Media’s Westwood One, through Chief Insights Officer Pierre Bouvard, took this finding and shared it as yet another benefit for marketers audio advertising brings. It grabbed the attention of the author of “the essential guide to selling films in a multi-platformed world.”
As shown below, 49% of heavy AM and FM radio listeners heard of 10 upcoming movie titles when asked 8 months ago.
By comparison, just 33% of heavy TV watchers had heard of the upcoming movie titles.
The findings also suggest audio streaming and on-demand audio that accepts advertising is a strong ROI vehicle for Hollywood.
As Robert Marich, who produces “Marketing to Moviegoers,” noted, at the moment radio gets just 1%-2% of movie advertising.
By comparison, linear TV and digital media “gobble up” around 95% of movie ad spending.
That’s why the custom research commissioned by Westwood One from movie audience researcher Screen Engine/ASI presents a marketing model asserting that shifting 20% of paid-advertising budgets for film campaigns to Radio will double the audience reach.
More specifically, the recommended reallocation of 20% of a film campaign spend on radio media consists of 58% for AM/FM radio, 28% for podcasts, 10% for Spotify/Pandora, and 4% for SiriusXM.
Screen Engine/ASI made case studies of specific films to identify how changing media-advertising mix more toward radio would be beneficial; its research panel is 2,300 consumers.
The Screen Engine/ASI conclusion? “A Nielsen analysis of five major film TV campaigns reveals 60% of the [ages] 18-49 demographic are missed,” Marich pointed out in an article shared with his audience this week. “The $24.3 million-dollar TV campaign for Marvel’s ‘Eternals’ reached only 45% of the 18-49 demographic. The $34.8 million-dollar TV campaign for ‘Sing 2’ missed 62% of U.S. 18-49s.”
Each of those films underperformed at the box office.
“The ‘Sing 2’ campaign would see the reach soar from 38% of 18-49s to 80%, a 2X increase,” Screen Engine/ASI concluded. “Shifting 20% of the ‘Eternals’ linear TV campaign to AM/FM radio would cause campaign reach to surge from 45% to 80%, an astonishing +78% lift in incremental reach.”
Then, there is Bouvard’s additional analysis, conducted in November. Looking at just that slice of heavy moviegoers, he said, “Ad supported audio, whether it is podcast, streaming and AM-FM, together have the highest reach at 93% among this heavy moviegoer segment. So, ad supported audio has by far the biggest reach among American heavy moviegoers.”
