Public Radio’s Power for Sponsors: Priming Consumers Before They Shop
As the busy holiday buying season approaches, sponsors are looking for the most effective way to capture consumer attention and, ultimately, drive sales. But what if the most critical moment of influence happens long before a customer clicks “checkout” or enters a store?
The 84% Rule: Decisions Made Before Shopping
Results from a recent study by WPP Media and Said Business School confirms what successful public media sponsors already know: 84% of purchase decisions are effectively made before shopping even begins. This data solidifies public media’s role not just as a trusted platform, but as a crucial tool for “brand priming,” shaping awareness, trust, and emotional connection during the foundational pre-decision stage. Understanding this science allows us to position public media at the strategic starting line of every successful holiday sales campaign.
The WPP Media and Said Business School study involved $2.2 billion in media spend analyzed over a two-year post-pandemic period (2021-2023), including 142 brands, 14 sectors, 10 media channels and 53 brands matched pre- and post-COVID, using marketing mix modeling to link ad spend to incremental profit.
It confirms that sponsors of public media are not only receiving trust by association but they also are marketing in the pre-decision “priming stage,” where media channels such as radio and podcasts play a critical role in shaping awareness, trust, and emotional connection. This is the groundwork that determines which brands consumers will consider later on. WPP calls this long-term process “brand priming,” and it applies across every category studied, from consumer electronics to fast food to financial services.
Receptivity and Touchpoint Influence
The study emphasizes that the effectiveness of marketing relies on two key concepts: receptivity and touchpoint influence. To elaborate on these findings, here is an excerpt from a summary published by InsideRadio on November 5, 2025:
The WPP research also examines why some marketing works better than others, introducing two concepts often overlooked in traditional planning: receptivity and touchpoint influence. Receptivity measures how open consumers are to being influenced by marketing. Touchpoint influence refers to how much a particular form of contact changes behavior. WPP’s data shows paid channels are indispensable for creating brand familiarity and emotional bias during the priming phase. But conversion from bias to purchase typically comes from a broader mix of touchpoints. In the active purchase stage, owned, shared, and earned channels — such as word-of-mouth recommendations, online reviews, and email — are nearly three times more powerful than paid media alone in converting consumers who are already primed.
The Crucial Role of Integrated Digital Touchpoints
That means a consumer who hears a radio campaign may be predisposed to buy, but the final nudge often comes through reinforcing channels that validate that choice.
Because of this, it’s important to include digital touchpoints like email ads, sponsored content, or streaming audio prerolls in a public radio broadcast schedule. Digital ads activate the top part of the sales funnel building awareness, interest and desire.
Audio's High ROI and Final Recommendation
WPP Media’s study shows that both AM/FM radio and digital audio deliver a return on ad spend significantly higher than the average of 11 advertising media, with digital audio ranking third and AM/FM fourth in ROI among those media.
This is a reminder to all Public Media to always include a digital asset with a broadcast schedule so sponsors will be “known before they’re needed” and have additional digital touchpoints to insure ROI.
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