Classic FM Listeners Respond Better To Ads
GWR’s sales house Opus has revealed the findings of a study which claims that listeners to Classic FM respond better to advertising than their pop music counterparts.
The new research, entitled The Radio Brain Waves Study, utilised special brain-imaging technology to measure how listeners respond to communications on a second by second basis.
The project measured the effect that listening to classical music had on the brains of 200 radio listeners over a four week period. Sensors inside special headsets measured the strength of electrical activity in different parts of the brain, including the areas responsible for memory and emotional engagement.
The results revealed that consumers relax when listening to classical music and therefore ads played on Classic FM have a greater impact than those played in a pop music environment. The participants also registered a stronger level of emotional engagement to advertising when it was heard on Classic FM.
Commenting on the findings, Rupert Steele, head of research at Opus, said: “The challenge with this project was to find a way of getting the deepest possible understanding of how different programme environments can affect listeners’ emotions, attention levels and reactions to advertising.”
He continued: “Conventional methodologies could only get us part of the way there, which is why we decided to adapt and adopt an approach using neuroscience. This study has generated unique insights and takes the media industry’s understanding of how radio programming and advertising works to a new level.”
Simon Daglish, sales director at Classic FM, added: “We already knew that the nature of Classic FM’s programming had a relaxing effect on listeners. But what this research is able to demonstrate is the beneficial effect of the listeners’ relaxed state of mind on advertising effectiveness, Once an ad break punctuates the programming, we see a very definite and positive shift in emotional engagement and this is turn improves retention.”
The Radio Advertising Bureau recently published research enabling brand owners to calculate for the first time the percentage uplift in sales that they can expect from their radio campaigns (see RAB Study Shows Radio Advertising Boosts Sales).
Opus: 020 7518 2642 www.opusonline.co.uk
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