At a time when trust in media remains a moving target, radio continues to earn the confidence of its audience, but new findings come with quite the twist. While the content remains the exact same, what platform AM/FM is consumed on makes a real difference.
The second part of Sounds Profitable’s Advertising Landscape 2025 series, conducted by Signal Hill Insights and presented by Sounds Profitable Partner Tom Webster, surveyed more than 5,000 US adults 18+ to compare the performance of 22 media platforms across reach, engagement, and credibility.
While part one focused on overall audience reach, the latest installment dives into what Webster calls “effective reach” – how likely people are to actually notice and remember the advertising they’re exposed to. Both podcasting and AM/FM radio posted strong results, with podcasting coming in at the top of the chart and commercial broadcast radio not far behind.
Among all measured platforms, broadcast radio had the second-highest monthly usage (66%) and placed third in weekly ad recall among “prime users,” or those who use a platform near-daily and rank it among their top four media choices. 81% of these AM/FM users said they had heard an ad on the platform within the past seven days, just behind cable TV (82%) and podcasting (86%).
This positions AM/FM radio with an “effective reach” of 53%, a calculation that multiplies a platform’s monthly reach by its ad recall rate. That score places radio ahead of major platforms like Facebook (50%), YouTube (49%), and Instagram (38%). While not at the top of the chart, AM/FM maintains one of the lowest levels of reach decay, only a 13-point drop between total reach and effective ad recall, beating out several digital competitors with higher nominal reach but lower attentiveness.
But perhaps the most surprising finding in the report comes from within radio itself: streaming AM/FM radio outperformed its over-the-air counterpart in perceived trust and authenticity.
According to prime users, streaming AM/FM radio is perceived as more factually accurate than traditional AM/FM broadcast, with 51% agreeing that the content is “generally factual and accurate,” compared to 47% for over-the-air AM/FM. Yes, while both platforms are delivering the same core product, listeners to streaming AM/FM radio rated the advertising experience slightly higher in multiple dimensions.
In terms of trust in ad claims, 48% of streaming AM/FM prime users said they believe the ads they hear are true, a hair past broadcast’s 47%. Streaming also scored better on authenticity, with 50% agreeing that ads feel “authentic and natural,” compared to 44% for AM/FM over the air.
Even trust in the messengers themselves showed an edge for streaming: 42% of prime users said they trust the people delivering ads on streaming AM/FM, compared to 39% for traditional broadcast.
The findings suggest that context matters, even when the content is largely the same. As audio consumption continues to migrate onto digital devices, this growing trust in streaming radio could become a key differentiator for advertisers targeting high-attention environments.
The third part of the Advertising Landscape 2025 series, focusing on ad effectiveness and purchase behavior, is expected in July.
It would be fascinating to compare trust in AM versus FM radio.
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