The Always Up To Date Radio Advertising Glossary

Today you're going to become a radio advertising expert.

This radio advertising glossary contains all the terms that you've come across while researching radio, complete with explanations that make sense. They're important, they're alphabetical and now, they're accessible. 

Audience Metrics

FREQUENCY

The number of times an advert is heard by listeners over a period of time.

GROSS RATING POINTS (GRPs)

The amount of times a listener is likely to hear your advert (Opportunities to hear) and expresses it as a percentage of the amount of people a radio station plays to.

IMPACTS

One impact is one person’s listening to one spot. These are added together to give total impacts for an advertising campaign, or total impacts for all airtime on a certain station. Calculated by multiplying OTH by Weekly Reach.

OPPORTUNITIES TO HEAR (OTH)

How many times a listener is likely to hear a radio ad.

REACH

A station’s share of listeners. The amount of people who tune into a radio station for at least 15 minutes.

RAJAR

Radio Joint Audience Research set up in 1992 to record listening figures for stations in the UK.

TOTAL WEEKLY HOURS (TWH)

The total number of hours a station is listened to weekly.

TOTAL SURVEY AREA (TSA)

The area that a station’s audience is measured.

MARKET SHARE

The percentage of all radio listening hours that a station accounts for within its transmission area. This can be calculated for any target market across any area.

AVERAGE WEEKLY HOURS PER LISTENER

The total hours a listener base has spent listening in a week. Divide the average weekly hours of the station by the total population the station transmits to.

Cost & Pricing Metrics 

COST EFFICIENCY FACTOR (CEF)

The cost of reaching one thousand people in a target area.

COST PER THOUSAND (CPT/ CPM)

The cost of reaching 1000 listeners.

Activation & Formats 

CREATIVE

The term broadly attributed to the content of an advert or campaign. Although not restricted just to audio, it’s mainly attributed to jingles and other bits of audio.

DAY PARTS

Popular times of the day adverts are played in.

PROMOTION

A popular method for radio spenders which allows them to run an offer on air. Can be a direct call to action that directs traffic straight to your brand.

SPONSORSHIP

A popular method for radio spenders that allows them to sponsor a show like travel, news and weather.

Planning & Strategy

BRAND AWARENESS

The practice of making your company more recognisable. Most efficiently achieved through advertising and PR.

RETURN ON INVESTMENT (ROI)

A common goal for advertisers to increase the ROI from their advertising spend.

TOUCHPOINTS

Although radio is listened to 24/7, different people listen at different times depending on their habits or lifestyles.

Radio Platforms

DIGITAL AUDIO BROADCASTING (DAB)

DAB offers a selection of stations not available on FM, with higher standards of broadcasting quality. Often cited as the future of radio broadcasting.

LOCAL RADIO

Local radio stations are stations that broadcast programmes for a particular area of the country. This includes town-sized stations (once known as incremental stations).

NATIONAL RADIO

Radio that serves the whole of the UK, national stations include Absolute Radio, Capital Radio, Classic FM and Talk Sport.

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