Abstract

What is the reach of newspaper and radio advertising?

Do recall measures underestimate the reach of newspapers and radio?

Sophisticated methods have been developed to measure the reach of TV advertising (people meters) and online advertising (impressions, clicks, “engagement”). But the reach of radio and newspaper advertising is often measured using traditional recall measures (surveys and diaries). These measures may be affected by memory biases or social desirability biases. This study uses the SMS surveys (the ESM) to reliably observe when consumers listen to the radio or read a newspaper, over an average day, and the amount of advertising they encounter.

This research uses the “experience sampling method” (ESM) to measure the reach of newspaper and radio advertising. The method involves sending short SMS surveys to participants at random times during the day. ESM measures were compared with the recall-based reach estimates that advertisers currently rely on, in Australia.

The results show that reach for both newspapers and radio is significantly under-estimated using recall. There was less difference between the ESM and recall methods in their estimates of how many minutes per day were spent reading newspapers or listening to radio.