With 54% of global marketers planning to reduce spending in 2025, ad spend efficiency will be critical. The goal is clear: maximize your marketing impact for minimum cost. However, the path to achieving this is often clouded by misperceptions about media channel effectiveness.
Advertisers are increasingly favoring lower-cost, performance-oriented digital tactics such as CTV, social, influencer marketing, and search, while shifting budgets away from traditional, high-reach media like radio. Yet, this strategy might be flawed. Nielsen’s latest data reveals a stark contrast between how marketers perceive channel performance and how these channels actually perform in terms of ROI. It can also result in underinvestment in building brand equity that’s vital for driving long-term growth. The discrepancy is crucial for marketers to understand and address to optimize their media mix.
Perception vs. performance: A risky disconnect
Nielsen’s 2025 Annual Marketing Report found that marketers are driving increased investments in digital channels, which they see as more effective. Digital channels are taking precedence due to their perceived measurability and direct attribution. However, ease of measurement does not always equate to effectiveness or higher ROI.
Proprietary KPIs and lower CPMs can be misleading, and a channel’s ability to claim conversion credit doesn’t necessarily translate to real value. This bias can lead to underinvestment in traditional channels, like radio, which, despite being perceived as less effective, can deliver substantial ROI.
Global Compass data provides a powerful counterpoint to marketer perceptions. While marketers rank radio last in perceived effectiveness, it actually boasts some of the highest ROI globally, just trailing social media. This suggests that marketers are missing out on a highly effective channel due to inaccurate perceptions. Similarly, podcasts demonstrate strong ROI, comparable to TV and digital display, yet they are often overlooked or undervalued. These insights highlight a critical misalignment between perception and performance, which can lead to costly mistakes in media planning.
The importance of understanding your audience
To bridge this gap, marketers need to shift from relying on perceived effectiveness to analyzing objective data. The first step is to understand your target audience. Marketers must meet their audience where they consume media. Where do they spend their time? Which channels do they trust?
Pinpointing preferred platforms and trusted channels is essential for strategic media placement and maximizing engagement. For example, radio demonstrates remarkable reach among specific demographic segments. In the U.S., radio reaches 27.4 million Black listeners—an average reach that matches that of connected TV.
Black consumers are also twice as likely as the other demographic groups to try products promoted on local radio stations. This presents a significant opportunity for marketers aiming to drive sales and build brand loyalty within this market segment. Recognizing these nuances in audience behavior and media preferences allows for more targeted and impactful marketing strategies.
Defining your marketing goals
It’s also critical to define clear marketing goals. Are you aiming to build brand awareness, drive sales, or both? In our annual marketing survey, half of marketers list revenue growth as their top priority while only 45% of marketers prioritize brand awareness.
It’s important to recognize that brand building and performance marketing are not mutually exclusive; they are interdependent. A brand loses an average of 2% of future revenue for every quarter it stops advertising, while a 1-point gain in brand metrics can drive a 1% increase in sales. Therefore, a balanced approach that considers both short-term performance and long-term brand health is essential.
Focusing too heavily on performance-oriented digital tactics can lead to underinvestment in channels that build brand equity and drive long-term growth. This underinvestment can erode brand equity and limit future sales potential. Instead of substituting traditional channels for digital ones, marketers should aim to scale into digital while maintaining investments in proven high-reach platforms.
With adequate data and methodology, traditional channels can be measurable drivers of ROI. Audio, for example, can be difficult to measure due to relatively lower spend, but looking at the size of the budget, the quality of the inputs and the granularity of the outlet can measure the impact of radio, streaming audio, and podcasts.
The strategic imperative: Scale, don’t substitute
Crafting the right media mix requires moving beyond perceptions and embracing data-driven decision-making. By analyzing ROI benchmarks, understanding target audience behavior, and defining clear marketing goals, marketers can optimize their ad spend and achieve greater efficiency.
It’s essential to recognize the value of both traditional and digital channels, and to strike a balance between short-term performance and long-term brand building. The key is to scale into digital, not substitute away from high-performing, high-reach platforms like radio. By doing so, marketers can ensure they are investing in channels that truly deliver results, and not just those that are perceived to be effective.
For more insights on global marketers’ perceptions and priorities this year, please check out our 2025 Annual Marketing Report.
