Advertisers are still working from an outdated picture of radio. A side-by-side of what brands believe about AM/FM and what Nielsen, Edison Research, and LeadsRx data show finds big gaps on reach, audience share, in-car listening, and return on investment.
The Cumulus Media/Westwood One Audio Active Group compared advertiser and agency beliefs about consumer media habits with behavior data from Nielsen, LeadsRx, and Edison Research. The perception side comes from an Advertiser Perceptions study of 302 advertisers and agencies conducted in August.
On reach, advertisers estimated that radio reaches 43% of Americans weekly. Nielsen Comparable Metrics for the first quarter, via Katz Radio Group, put the figure at 86%. Persons 18-34 make up the largest weekly AM/FM audience at 63.5M, ahead of persons 65+ at 58.1M, persons 35-49 at 57.8M, and persons 50-64 at 54.9M.
Deloitte Director of Research, Technology, Media & Telecommunications Duncan Stewart said in the firm’s 2019 Technology, Media, and Telecommunications Predictions report, “Why do people think that nobody listens to radio anymore? Because there is a narrative that new media kills old media, so nobody bothers to look at evidence that doesn’t fit the narrative.”
Advertisers also underestimated radio’s share of ad-supported audio time. They put AM/FM at 26%, compared with 29% for Spotify and 17% for Pandora. Edison Research’s Share of Ear study, covering the fourth quarter of 2025 through the third quarter of 2026, found AM/FM at 64% among persons 18+, followed by podcasts at 22%, ad-supported Spotify at 5%, and ad-supported Pandora at 4%.
In the car, AM/FM accounts for 81% of ad-supported audio time, according to Edison. Podcasts follow at 9%, ad-supported SiriusXM at 4%, ad-supported Spotify at 3%, and ad-supported Pandora at 2%.
Daily reach tells a similar story. Edison found AM/FM reaches 56% of persons 18+ on a typical day, while the combination of ad-supported Spotify, ad-supported Pandora, and podcasts reaches 32%. Adding AM/FM to that group lifts net daily reach to 72%.
RAB analysis using Nielsen Media Impact modeled a $10M national campaign split among TV, connected TV, and digital that reached 64% monthly. Moving 10% of the plan to AM/FM radio raised reach to 77%, a 20% increase at the same spend.
Return on investment is where perception and data diverge most. Nielsen’s CMO survey ranked AM/FM radio last among channels for perceived effectiveness at 46%. Nielsen’s Global media mix modeling benchmarks rank AM/FM second in weighted average ROI at $2.00, behind social at $2.22, and fourth in the US at $2.14. LeadsRx attribution studies of 17 campaigns from 2019 to 2023 found an average 14% lift in site traffic from AM/FM radio.
The group also addressed the belief that radio cannot be measured, pointing to brand lift studies, audio creative testing, sales effect studies, retail location attribution, enhanced media mix modeling data input, digital audio brand effect, and site and search attribution. It offers national brands media planning recommendations, creative best practices, and measurement services.
