Word of mouse - Radio Optimised Search
In 2007 the Radio advertising Bureau commissioned a new study by the University of Lancaster which looked to understand how exposure to radio advertising could influence the way people search for things on the internet.
The study examined three aspects of the way exposure to radio could change browsing behaviour including:
- the extent to which people search for brand names
- the extent to which people go directly to brands’ websites
- the extent to which these effects vary for different kinds of campaigns
All respondents had to be active internet users who had bought things online before, and also regular Commercial Radio listeners who listened while browsing.
While they were searching a “radio” was playing in the background. In fact the radio was pre-recorded, with a mix of music, trails and advertising. For half the sample, the output contained ads relevant to the searches; for the other half the ads were not relevant.
Although this was a relatively small scales test, the RAB has interpreted some very valuable findings from the data.
