End to end, from start to finish, initial idea to the final campaign, “How do I know my broadcast campaign is working?” Throughout my career, I’ve often heard this from advertisers, and the answer has varied depending on the client, the media, and the campaign. Sometimes I’d refer them to an increase in call volume or website visits, leading to a boost in in-store traffic and purchases. Ultimately, I’d end up relying on the client’s data or anecdotes to determine whether or not the campaign was working. But often, last touch attribution favors digital, and broadcast’s contribution to a consumer’s path to engagement and purchase goes unattributed.

For quite some time, radio has needed a tool that tracks its effectiveness, and I’m beyond excited that we finally have a platform that can tackle broadcast attribution, Audacy Audience Analytics aids in every step of the way to make our advertiser’s campaigns the most compelling and effective. Let’s dive into how this new platform works.

What does it do? It measures and quantifies the amount of incremental traffic to an advertiser’s website within an eight minute attribution window of a commercial airing.

How does it work? Before the campaign, baseline traffic patterns are determined to ensure that the traffic from the new broadcast campaign shows our true impact. Once the campaign airs, we begin tracking the increased percentage in website traffic within an eight-minute window.

Why eight minutes? I know it sounds oddly specific, but the time frame has been researched and tested by our team over the past several years. Beyond eight minutes, the noise/chatter from other ads that may be airing in the same tracking window begins to affect the results. By keeping a narrow window after the commercial airs, we insure higher accuracy. In short, we would rather be conservative and accurate, than open the window up and risk misattribution.

What insight does it provide? There are three areas where Audacy Audience Analytics can provide insight into the campaign.

Ultimately, Audacy Audience Analytics provides data that helps advertisers evaluate what parts of their campaign is resonating with consumers and which are not. From the data, our team can go in and optimize the advertiser’s campaign to deliver the best results and enhance the return on advertising investment.

Here’s a great example of Audacy Audience Analytics in action. At the beginning of 2018, a large metropolitan parking services company promoted on the air that their lots were safe and reliable. The commercial was tracked by Audacy Audience Analytics and delivered a 7% increase in website traffic. While 7% is commendable, the Audacy team believed engaging listeners with relevant content in the moment would provide even better results.

The campaign and creative approach were revised to enhance results. The benefits of parking in the city were tailored to specific events (concerts, shows events, etc.) in the days leading up to each one. The Audacy Audience Analytics platform showed that the event-oriented advertising delivered an 18% increase in traffic! This way, we were able to maximize the companies’ campaign by further promoting event-oriented advertising as opposed to more generic branding.

We measure both small and large-scale, complex campaigns with roughly 5,000 Audacy advertisers using Audacy Audience Analytics, and its adoption and usage grows every day. Our advertisers recognize that the platform is a game changer for the industry and I’m thrilled to be part of this radio data revolution.

Have questions regarding Audacy Audience Analytics? Reach out! We’d love to share more information about this exciting new resource!