The world of acronyms can be confusing at best especially when talking about radio advertising. This page looks at the main radio bodies, organisations and formats, looking at what they do to help radio break through the advertising landscape as the most strategized and carefully measured advertising medium.
RAB – The Radio Advertising Bureau
The RAB or Radio Advertising Bureau is funded entirely by the UK Commercial Radio Industry and is part of the RadioCentre Ltd. The Radio Advertising Bureau helps to market radio as good source of advertising, both to direct advertisers and advertising agencies.
RACC – Radio Adverts Clearance Centre
The RACC is the Radio Advertising Industries own dedicated advertising body. Funded for by commercial radio stations, it ensures that radio copy and radio creative goes to air in accordance with a predetermined set of rules.
DRDB – Digital Radio Development Bureau
The digital radio development bureau is the home for business information about digital radio (DAB) and its potential and ongoing development for business. The bureau also runs a consumer version of the site giving listeners information on the developments of digital radio, how they can receive digital radio in their homes and where they can buy digital radios.
DAB/DAB+ - Digital Audio Broadcast
DAB or Digital audio broadcast is the new digital radio format which radio will switch over too possibly in the middle of this decade. DAB uses AAC encoding to transmit audio to the listener, meaning that in good signal areas it is possible to receive crystal clear digital audio signals. DAB is by no means a new technology with DAB sets having been around on the market from the early nineties, DAB+ is an updated version of the DAB format which the UK is to take on as its main platform for digital radio broadcast.
ROD – Radio On Demand
RADIO ON DEMAND is the new market for advertisers who want to hit customers with audio advertising. Radio on Demand adverts work just the same as radio adverts but can be up to twenty times more powerful.
Services such as We7, Spotify and Deezer mean that customers can receive ‘free’ music in exchange for listening to radio style audio adverts.
This can be extremely powerful for the advertiser, due to the fact these services are based on a ‘subscribe to join’ method it means that there are full 90% accurate figures on exacting demographics of users of these services. In short it creates a highly targeted advertising platform with very little to no wastage, having a large impact with on-line click through.
RER – Red Eye Radio
At night time, there are obviously fewer people listening to the radio than there are during the peak times of breakfast and evening drive, and therefore this airtime is much less demanded. As a result, Radio stations price this airtime much cheaper than during other times of the day – the cost of reaching someone at night time is likely to be a fraction of the ‘peak’ price of reaching the same person during the daytime. This method can have a great impact on certain groups of listeners and can mean that advertisers are able to use radio brands such as Heart, Absolute, Kiss, Magic, Capital and other stations that they may not normally have been able to afford.