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Resources > News > ABX/RAB Radio Creative Wear-Out Study Validates Mark Ritson’s Conclusion That Consumers Don’t Get Tired Of Ads, Only Marketers Do

ABX/RAB Radio Creative Wear-Out Study Validates Mark Ritson’s Conclusion That Consumers Don’t Get Tired Of Ads, Only Marketers Do

One of the most frequently asked questions the RAB (Radio Advertising Bureau) receives on audio creative involves wear-out. Wear-out is defined as the point where creative testing declines from its peak due to message frequency fatigue.

To explore whether wear-out is an issue, the RAB commissioned a study from ABX Advertising Benchmark Index, a global leader in creative testing, with half-a-million ads evaluated to date.

Key findings:

  • Consumers don’t get tired of ads, only marketers do: The ABX AM/FM radio creative study for the RAB proves legendary marketing professor Mark Ritson was right.
  • Wear-out of AM/FM radio ads is virtually non-existent: Only two of 25,000 ads showed a decline in some creative effectiveness metrics. Two major creative effectiveness measures, branding and messaging, showed no wear-out.
  • The two ads showing differences were at the top end of cumulative spending and time in market: Two years in market and $8M+ of spend is where creative effectiveness might start to wane.
  • Repeat testing of ten of the twelve longest running AM/FM radio ads reveals no statistically significant erosion.
  • The giants of marketing effectiveness and creative testing conclude wear-out is non-existent: Take it from Les Binet/Sarah Carter, ABX, Kantar, System1, and Analytic Partners.