Cost Effectiveness

• A 30-second radio commercial can be produced and aired for around $5,000 as of August 2009. In contrast, a television ad of the same length will run at least $50,000. This number soars into hundreds of thousands if the slot is during prime time, or a major sporting or entertainment event.
  
  

No Experience Required

• Because radio ads only involve vocals, sound effects and music, many are taped at the radio station with little rehearsal or set-up. Further, the vocal talents are often employees of the group buying the air time.
  
  

Repetition

• Messages heard over and over sink in faster than those heard only once. Because radio listeners channel-surf less than TV viewers, they're going to hear your radio spot every day on their favorite station and subconsciously memorize its content.
  
  

Immediacy

• A radio commercial can reach the ears of your target demographic--commuters, students, office workers--within a few hours of it being recorded. By comparison, a TV commercial might be several weeks in the making.
  
  

Imaginary Ambience

• If you were filming an ad for TV, it would be expensive to build a jungle, fill it with stampeding animals, unleash a torrent of rain and stage an attack by hundreds of angry tribesmen. For radio, all you have to do is press a few buttons and your listeners' imaginations will fill in the rest.
  
  

Gauging Results

• The effectiveness of a radio ad can be measured by how many phone calls or walk-in customers start arriving after it first plays. Other forms of marketing campaigns take longer to evaluate.