Radio Isn't Dying — It Has a Marketing Problem. Here's How to Fix It.

Radio reaches more 18–34 year olds than TV, tablets, and phones but advertisers rank it last in effectiveness. The gap between perception and reality is costing everyone.

Radio has a costly marketing problem.

Advertisers are skipping over a medium that quietly outperforms almost everything else in their stack. AM/FM radio delivers a weighted return of $2.00 for every dollar spent, placing it second among all measured media channels.^⁴ And yet, marketers in Nielsen’s 2025 Annual Marketing Report ranked radio dead last in perceived effectiveness.

The problem is that there is a gap between what radio is doing and what it is believed to be.

I grew up listening to the radio constantly: sports, news, music, and entertainment. In high school, we’d listen to Ryan’s Roses on the carpool ride before hopping out for class. But once I got my driver’s license, I switched to Spotify. My friends did too. No ads, choosing what I want, and just tuning in for my playlists.

That personal drift mirrors a broader cultural assumption: that radio is dead. Gen Z and millennials largely believe it. Gen X and older are wondering if it’s still worth tuning in. But the numbers tell a completely different story.

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Radio Is Still Performing, Advertisers Just Don’t Know It.

While the perception of radio is dropping, the actual numbers have held up. Research from Edison in Q4 found that AM/FM radio commands more than 80% of all ad-supported audio time in vehicles, which Nielsen identifies as critical for reaching consumers near the point of purchase.^¹

Radio still reaches adults aged 18–34 every month, ahead of TV, phones, and tablets. Rural communities frequently tune in, spending 43% of their daily audio listening time with AM/FM radio and radio streams.^²

Last year, stations across the U.S. saw some of their highest weekly listener counts in over two decades, with more than 50 million people tuning in each week.^³

And yet, at the bottom of the list in marketer perception. The product isn’t the problem; it’s the brand.

I explored the case for radio’s continued relevance in more depth in Radio is Still Going. Consumers still listen with a strong ROI. Radio just hasn’t figured out how to tell that story.

What Can Radio Do To Help Its Brand Image & Perception?

Other industries have climbed back from similar perception problems. Coach, Domino’s, and Old Spice did it through deliberate brand campaigns. Vinyl records and thrift shopping came back through consumer culture. Radio must take deliberate actions from each station to establish its value, and competitors must provide the insight to help them grow.

1. Establish Trust & Authority

Radio’s strongest aspect is its intimacy. Providing local updates, community insight, and content that can’t be found anywhere else is what makes it stand out. In a media landscape flooded with AI-generated filler and influencers hawking the next great product, a trusted local voice is genuinely rare. Lean into that.

2. Embrace Technology

The digital revolution doesn’t have to be the enemy. Use platform data to understand what audiences want to hear. Build a real web presence. Maintain an email list that keeps listeners in the funnel between broadcasts. Adapt without abandoning your core content.

3. Utilize Social Media

Stations need active, optimized accounts that provide a real presence. Repurpose your best host moments. Show behind-the-scenes content. Run giveaways. Create clips that non-listeners might stumble across and want to learn more. The on-air audience and the online audience should be feeding each other.

4. Provide Visuals

Radio can’t use visuals on-air, but it doesn’t have to stop there. Live in-studio cameras, behind-the-scenes footage, and short-form video content. Make your medium a multi-sensory layer that previous generations of radio never had access to.

5. Track The Data

Do the work, then give yourself credit for it. Track ratings, follower growth, event attendance, and listener metrics to then bring concrete numbers to every advertiser conversation. Let the data form a story to showcase your ROI that will make people buy in.

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The Medium Isn’t Dying. It’s Undervalued.

Radio won’t reclaim its seat at the table by waiting for the industry to turn around. It will happen one station, one campaign, and one data point at a time.

By using what has worked before, connection, and taking active steps towards devlopment, there will be a better build of trust. Track your numbers. Show up on social. Lean into what others lack: a real connection while speaking to a real local audience in real time.

It’s not dead, it’s undervalued.

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Share Your Thoughts!

What’s your earliest radio memory? What does the medium mean to you, and has it changed over time?

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Sources

^¹ Radio Ink, March 2026 — Nielsen data via Edison Research Q4: AM/FM radio’s share of ad-supported in-vehicle audio.

^² Edison Research, Share of Ear Study, 2024 — Urban, suburban, and rural listening differences; rural AM/FM daily audio share.

^³ Insider Radio, 2026 — Edison in-car listening data: weekly listener counts hit multi-decade high in 2025.

^⁴ Radio Ink, 2026 — Nielsen weighted ROI by media channel: radio at $2.00 return per $1 spent.