TV AD GROUP DISPUTES LATEST RAEL STUDY Katy Bachman – Mediaweek The Television Bureau of Advertising Tuesday (July 5) took issue with the third study from the Radio Ad Effectiveness Lab released in early June. The $1 million RAEL study, conducted by Millward Brown and Information Resources Inc., examined four pairs of radio and national TV campaigns over a six month period to conclude that radio delivers a better return on investment than national TV.
The radio industry, which funds RAEL, has been using the findings to help promote the medium to advertisers and agencies at a time when radio is facing increased competition from new and competing media. According to the third study, radio’s ROI was 49 percent higher than TV’s.
At the core of the TVB’s critique is the fact that the study compared radio to national TV when it is local TV, which most directly competes with radio, a medium that is 80 percent supported by local advertising.
After examining the data, the TVB noted that the study actually shows that a television-only campaign without a radio component, delivered the highest sales lift (7.7 percent). The lowest sales lift was delivered by radio in absence of TV (3.6 percent).
To determine the ROI, costs had to be factored into the equation. Since the study’s ROI conclusions are based on allocations of estimates of national TV costs, the TVB pointed out that the findings cannot be applied to local market TV pricing, nor its ROI. |