Renovate or Relocate? The Real Forces Driving Home Improvement — and Why Radio Matters

Author: Annette Malave, SVP/Insights, RAB

Home improvement used to be about style. Today, it’s about strategy. Remodeling is no longer a weekend project. It’s a lifestyle adjustment, a financial decision and for many, a necessity. Rising housing costs, aging homes and changing living needs have shifted homeowners’ mindset from “Should we renovate?” to “How do we make our home work better for us?”

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Car Buying Got Complicated — And Consumers Are Listening Differently

Author: Annette Malave, SVP/Insights, RAB

Buying a car used to feel exciting. Today, for many consumers, it feels… complicated.

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Insights into Action: 5 Next Steps for Radio from the RAB – Borrell Digital Benchmarking Report

Author: Avery Berggen, Marketing Manager, Marketron

Digital Is Now Radio’s Growth Engine: What the 2026 RAB – Borrell Benchmark Means for Local Media

For more than a decade, RAB’s Annual Digital Benchmarking Report, produced by Borrell Associates Inc., has helped radio leaders understand how local advertising is changing and what it takes to stay competitive.

This year’s findings confirm what many broadcasters are already seeing.

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Dental Anxiety Is Real—And It’s a Marketing Opportunity for Local Practices

Author: Annette Malave, SVP/Insights, RAB

The tooth fairy… from a young age. Many of us are told that you will receive a “reward” when you lose a tooth. So, why as adults, do so many of us dread dental visits?

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From Nerve-Wracking to Reassuring: How Radio Connects During Tax Season

Author: Annette Malave, SVP/Insights, RAB

Most Americans don’t circle Tax Day on their calendar with excitement. Instead, it lingers in the background — wedged between work deadlines, family schedules and the constant mental note of “I really need to do my taxes.”

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Why Radio Starts the Year Strong – Even When the Economy Feels Uncertain

Author: Annette Malave, SVP/Insights, RAB

January often brings a mix of optimism and caution. Businesses are setting new goals, reviewing budgets, and closely watching economic signals. For advertisers, uncertainty can lead to hesitation — but with the help of broadcast radio, businesses can seize the opportunities that still exist.

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2025’s Most Read: Radio’s Biggest Trends & Takeaways

Author: Annette Malave, SVP/Insights, RAB

As we look back on the past year, our blog explored a wide range of topics—each shining a light on why radio continues to be America’s top media platform.

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My 2025 in Review – Audio, New Data and MMM

Contributor: John Fix, John Fix Ltd. – Consulting P&G retiree

I was fortunate to work with many great people and companies this year. Cumulus Media, iHeart, SiriusXM and In4mation Insights were great partners and the RAB and IAB have done great things with audio. The majority of the conversations were around the role of data and every road somehow led to MMM.

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Audio Advertising Gets Some Fine Tuning

New measurement tools in audio give marketers a better sense of their ROI

Contributor: Matthew Schwartz, director of editorial and content development, ANA

Video didn’t kill the radio advertising star. Neither did social media, online gaming, nor Netflix. The rise of digital platforms has been a veritable boon for audio advertising, which encompasses ads on streaming music services, podcasts, and traditional AM/FM and digital radio stations. Despite the dizzying number of media channels — or maybe because of them — radio continues to provide advertisers with effective reach at lower cost per thousand than linear or streaming programming.

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Radio Drives Holiday Hunt for Fashionable Gifts

Author: Victor Texcucano, Content Coordinator, RAB

Tariffs, inflation and changing consumer preferences mean the clothing/apparel industry is in a state of ups and downs. With the holiday season here, retailer marketing is in full swing.

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Telecom Marketing on Radio: What’s Working Best

Contributor: Rick Kestenbaum, general manager, AnalyticOwl

The telecom industry is what keeps us all connected—whether we’re texting a friend, streaming a movie or hopping on a video call for work. It’s come a long way from landlines and dial-up internet to lightning-fast mobile networks and fiber-optic cables. These days, telecom companies are at the heart of the digital world, powering everything from smart homes to cloud computing.

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How Local Radio Turns Consumer Anxiety into Small Business Sales

Author: Annette Malave, SVP/Insights, RAB

The latest consumer confidence report for October just dropped. Not much changed from September, barely ticking down just one point to 94.6.

What is so interesting about this? It’s a total split between how people feel right now versus how they feel about the future.

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Radio Pumps Up Marketing Effectiveness

Audio advertising can boost audience engagement from the top of the funnel to the bottom

Author: Tammy Greenberg SVP Business Development, RAB

The pressure is on almost every marketer. A whopping 95 percent of marketing leaders say their teams are under more pressure than ever to prove marketing’s value, according to “CMSWire’s 2025 State of the CMO Report.” Equally worrisome, the report, based on the responses from 515 marketing leaders, found that 69 percent of marketers feel the gravity of responsibility to deliver quantifiable ROI, up from 59 percent in 2023. Using audio media platforms to amplify brand-building efforts — and drive full-funnel results — could be the solution to relieve the pressure.

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