In January, The Advertising Landscape: Driving to Action conducted a study among over 5,000 listeners. This was the third installment of Sounds Profitable’s 2025 research series. The findings prove radio isn’t dead in the water when it comes to ads and listeners.
When it comes to driving consumer action radio continues to be strong in engagement. 7% of those surveyed said they did make a purchase after hearing an ad on radio in the past six months. This surpassed other platforms such as Facebook where only 4% were impacted, TikTok came out a little stronger with 5%, and cable tv stayed in like with Facebook with only 4% of listeners engaged. Now, podcasts came out the strongest with 22% of the shares saying they made an immediate purchase after hearing an ad.
After hearing an ad on the radio, 6% surveyed said they looked for more information on that product. 27% of podcast listeners searched for the product and 5% of TV watchers reached out to learn more about the ad they just heard or watched.
When those surveyed were asked where they heard an ad that then made them buy the product, 22% said they heard it on a podcast, 23% said they saw it on social media, 17% heard about it on the radio, and 16% saw it on tv.
This is great information to use during your sales pitches. Radio continues to do great and surpass cable tv when it comes to advertising.
Clearly, podcasts are blowing other forms of media out of the water. Programmers, use this when talking about how important your on air talent’s podcasts are. Use this information to pitch more endorsements. Know more and more people are turning to podcasts so utilize that when doing a “Best of” podcast, or an after the show podcast. Yes, they are continuing to grow but this doesn’t have to be a bad thing or a conflicting element to your audience. Podcasts can be paired with a strong team and be beneficial to you and your listeners.
For more on this study, go to soundsprofitable.com.