Pros and cons of radio advertising

Let's consider some of the pros and cons of radio advertising.

Pro:

Radio advertising is more affordable than TV advertising, more affordable even than some magazine and newspaper advertising. We're not going to get on a major show, obviously, and not have to pay the right price for it. But overall, radio advertising is an economical choice for a company to make, even on very popular radio stations.

Con:

More and more people

More and more people are turning to the Internet and TV for their news, entertainment, etc. The radio, especially in the eyes of the younger generation, seems more and more outmoded, more has been. Therefore, depending on our product, radio advertising could be a bust. It might be better if we focused all our powers and money on the Internet and TV.

Pro:

That said, radio still has a vast, vast audience, and radio advertising still goes out to millions upon millions of ears. In fact, even as the Internet and TV has risen in popularity as the general source of information, news, entertainment, etc., radio has risen in popularity as a source for getting specific viewpoints on politics or whatever. So, you won't fail to get an audience if you go with radio advertising. Also, you can be pretty sure of the general type of audience a radio station caters to, paradoxically because of radio's specificity. Sports till does huge amounts of business on the radio, and shows no sign of slowing down. Popular radio hosts just keep on getting more popular.

Con:

Radio, to many people, feels less personal, and it's certainly less in your face. People have come to associate "personal" with "seeing another human face" when it comes to advertising. And it's much easier to zone out and pay no attention to a radio advertisement than it is to a TV advertisement. It's much easier to flip from one radio station to another looking to escape advertisements than it is to do TV-wise. Literally it's just as easy to change television channels, but the fact that a person is seeing moving, colorful images means that they're less likely to so.

Pro:

With radio advertisements, as opposed to TV advertisements, you're only dealing with voices. You're just recording voices in these little spots, which means a lot less complication. Radio advertising is relatively simple compared to TV advertising and (some) Internet advertising. You don't have to put up with the same difficulties, you can get in the recording studio and out, and radio actors and such aren't as temperamental or plain mental as TV actors. It's amazing the difference in working with a radio actor to sell laundry detergent as opposed to a TV actor selling the same thing.

Con:

Even avid radio listeners do so more sporadically than TV watchers. That is, an avid radio listener will turn the radio to his or her favorite program, then go about the office or house doing tasks, etc., sometimes listening and sometimes not, with advertisements reduced to a sort of blur or hum in the background. It's not the same thing as watching their favorite television program, where they want to know what happens next in a dramatic series (say). They can go and come back again, go and come back again, tra la la.

Pro:

Avid radio listeners bring a certain amount of devotion to the radio programs they prefer. Sometimes this devotion, believe it or not, even rubs off on what's advertised on the program. It's a very basic psychological fact that human beings relate one thing to another in simplistic ways, so that if they adore one thing (say, a political radio personality), they'll feel some of the same emotion to things related to that thing (say, a radio advertisement), however distantly.