While new media platforms pull a lot of hype and attention, radio is still a relevant and undeniably powerful political advertising platform. Since the first radio ad in 1922, AM/FM has been the predominant platform for advertisers looking to reach their fellow citizen-consumers and voters. A lot has changed since those early days, through the advent of the television to the internet. But video definitely didn’t kill the radio star. In the past 10 years especially, despite the fragmentation of radio into satellite radio, streaming, stations such as Pandora and Spotify, and even podcasts, there has never been more opportunity for political campaigns to reach their constituents through sound. Engaging a compelling, skillful voice over talent to drive those messages is part of that smart strategy.
Radio Ads Add Up – 2020 Destined To Be A Voice Over Valuable Year
Suffice it to say, the value of voice over in radio is quite high. In his marketing and advertising forecast in 2017, Media Ecologist Jack Myers expected a 12.3% increase in (overall) ad spending by 2020 with radio’s total share of the ad revenue pie going from 2.8% to 3% by 2020. Myers predicted total radio ad revenue in the range of $17.8 Billion by 2020. What piece of that radio ad pie might be flavored political this election cycle? Kantar/CMAG predicts at least $400 million. While that’s not the billions broadcast and cable TV may command, it’s still a sustainable number.
At the risk of stealing a page from Captain Obvious, in radio, the voice over reigns supreme as the important facet of successful messaging. But relying on radio staff announcers to read political spots can be a critical mistake. Professional voice over artists have spent years working with the subtle art of uncovering meaning in the copy and driving messages home to listeners.
Reaching Important Voting Blocks With Voice Over Has Never Been Easier
A heavy majority (approx 90%) of Americans listen to radio every week – in their cars, while they’re working out or doing chores (more on this in a moment), etc. Because of this, reaching importing voting blocks with voice over in political messages has never been easier. These groups of voters, whether targeted with get-out-the-vote campaigns, direct political messaging or grass-roots centric pleas are a powerful force in elections. And getting them to turn out in large numbers is a goal of a lot of barnstorming. The right voice over professional can help successfully drive these very targeted messages.
This is especially true with minority and low-income voters. According to Koeppel Direct’s awesome article Political Media Buying 2020: Where Does Radio Fit?, “African Americans and Hispanics make up two of the largest demographic groups of radio listeners, making it a perfect platform to get a candidate’s message to these important voters” and “ongoing momentum suggests that the number of voter engagement campaigns could increase even further in the months leading up to the 2020 election, increasing radio advertising both as a means of reaching minority demographics and as a way to spread awareness to lower-income individuals who may not have as much access to online and televised content.”
Campaigns and other political advertisers are wise to employ accomplished voice actors who are well-versed in the values and characteristics of these targeted demographics and will be easily relatable to their audiences.
Podcasts Advertising Are New Landscapes for Political Ads
While definitely not your parents’ “radio”, podcasts are a new landscape in the radio media world and are exploding in popularity. As an accompaniment to almost any daily activity, popular podcasts can engender loyal fans and regular listeners. This built-in audience is ideal for reaching voters with a political ad voice over. This is in part because even with the availability of ad-free streaming services, millions of listeners opt to listen to the ad-supported versions of their favorite podcasts or even Spotify and Pandora, again giving campaigns and political advertisers a more engaged audience to reach.
In addition, studies have shown that targeting audio ads at listeners when they are carrying out “relevant” activities can boost engagement and memory recall by almost a quarter, according to Campaign, a leading business media brand serving the marketing, advertising and media communities based in the UK. They quote research that studied the impact of radio advertising on consumers as they carried out tasks such as cooking, driving, exercising, cleaning and working. Engagement rose by 23% and memory encoding by 22% for “situationally relevant ads”, according to the research. So ads that might require a voice over actor as “Mom” talking about education funding timed to air during the drive to drop off children at school, or ads where the voice over discusses real voter fears about health care or retirement age increases during working hours can have a greater impact on the voter listening.
No matter the “flavor”, be it old school AM/FM, streaming, or new media like podcasts, radio is still a powerful method for reaching voters with political messaging. In this ever-advancing world of new technologies and devices for listening to audio, it’s nice to know some things haven’t changed since 1922. A century strong and growing, radio’s influence is going to be around for a long time to come.