Aug 3, 2021 - by Matthew Wolf
Domains on the Radio. Wait, What Did They Say?
Radio advertisers must make it a priority for their content to be concise and memorable because they cannot rely on visual aids to reinforce messages. To better understand how domains are used by radio advertisers, we recently analyzed 57 FM and satellite radio ads to identify the presence, length and syllable count of domain names.
Prevalence and Frequency
Our analysis revealed that 73% of all radio advertisements contained at least one domain name. We segmented these domains into three groups: primary domains (domains that host the primary website for a company, i.e., gcd.com), vanity domains (domains that are configured to redirect users to a company or product web page, i.e., brandsight.com), and vanity URLs (domains that have an appended memorable keyword, or call to action, i.e., gcd.com/blog). Among the ads that contained at least one domain, 60% were primary domains, 12.5% were vanity domains, and 28% were vanity URLs.
URL Format
The average length of URLs in our dataset was 9.5 characters (ranging from 2 to 23 characters). Interestingly, this is shorter than the average length of business names which is 15 characters. This suggests that companies value shorter URLs, even if they do not contain the entire brand or organization name.
Memorability and Comprehension
The average syllable count for URLs in our data set was 3.55 (3.4 for FM radio, and 3.73 for satellite radio). Similarly, the average syllable count for the top 1000 brands is also 3.5.
Conclusion
Our findings suggest that the bulk of radio advertisers rely upon primary domains and vanity URLs to drive traffic. The average character length of URLs is less than the average length of brand/company names, and the average syllable count of URLs was similar to the average syllable count for the top 1,000 brand names.
Matthew Wolf is a member of the Strategy and Advisory team at GCD. He has worked with some of the world’s most recognizable brands helping to implement a domain portfolio strategy that protects and optimizes their business online.
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