New CUMULUS MEDIA Survey Reveals Increased Interest in Audio Creative

CUMULUS MEDIA | Westwood One’s Audio Active Group Identifies Blueprint for Developing Impactful Ads

NEW YORK, Oct. 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — CUMULUS MEDIA (NASDAQ: CMLS) | Westwood One’s Audio Active Group (AAG) today announced the results of an October 2021 survey on audio creative practices. The Audio Active Group conducted a survey of senior audio activation executives to understand the types of questions they field from brand clients and strategy teams. The primary finding was that there is a heightened interest in audio creative best practices, attributed to two factors: 1) Podcasting has captured the attention of marketers who seek recommendations to optimize brand and sales effect, and 2) Big brands are discovering radio as an effective way to supplement and complement mass reach for TV, especially pharmaceutical brands.

CUMULUS MEDIA | Westwood One has tested hundreds of audio ads over the years working with the leading experts in creative testing: ABX, Veritonic, and Sensory Logic. The Audio Active Group has evaluated the findings from those tests, along with marketing effectiveness and creative strategy work from industry giants like Les Binet, Peter Field, Alice Sylvester, Bryon Sharp, Leslie Wood, Paul Feldwick, Jenni Romaniuk, and Orlando Wood, to form CUMULUS MEDIA | Westwood One’s comprehensive audio creative best practices guide. The key recommendations:

• Have a conversation: Don’t shout
• The first five second matter: Say the brand early and often
• Don’t get caught up on spot length
• The fewer the messages, the greater the recall
• Use consistent, unified creative across different media to deliver impact
• Tell a story with emotion
• Use a fluent device, ie. a recurring character or scenario
• Entertain for emotional gain
• Make the ad audible and easy to understand
• Use music for branding
• Create a sonic logo that has melody and says the brand name
• Leverage the appeal and trust of radio personalities
• Target your core audience: Women prefer a female voice
• Don’t worry about wear-out

Click here for the complete guide to audio creative best practices.

The Audio Active Group, led by Pierre Bouvard, Chief Insights Officer of CUMULUS MEDIA | Westwood One, partners with clients to provide media and creative strategy and business outcome measurement of their entire audio campaign.

About CUMULUS MEDIA
CUMULUS MEDIA (NASDAQ: CMLS) is a leading media, advertising, and marketing services company delivering premium content to over a quarter billion people every month — wherever and whenever they want it. CUMULUS MEDIA engages listeners with high-quality local programming through 413 owned-and-operated radio stations across 86 markets; delivers nationally-syndicated sports, news, talk, and entertainment programming from iconic brands including the NFL, the NCAA, the Masters, CNN, the AP, the Academy of Country Music Awards, and many other world-class partners across nearly 7,300 affiliated stations through Westwood One, the largest audio network in America; and inspires listeners through the CUMULUS Podcast Network, its rapidly growing network of original podcasts that are smart, entertaining and thought-provoking. CUMULUS MEDIA provides advertisers with personal connections, local impact and national reach through broadcast and on-demand digital, mobile, social, and voice-activated platforms, as well as integrated digital marketing services, powerful influencers, full-service audio solutions, industry-leading research and insights, and live event experiences. CUMULUS MEDIA is the only audio media company to provide marketers with local and national advertising performance guarantees. For more information visit www.cumulusmedia.com.

Contact:
Karen Glover | CUMULUS MEDIA | kglover@westwoodone.com