Placer.ai: AM/FM Radio Campaign Drives Significant Increase In Holiday Foot Traffic For A Major Retailer
Is it possible to measure the foot traffic impact of an AM/FM radio advertising campaign on a major retailer’s holiday promotion? If you are location analytics firm Placer.ai, the answer is yes!
A retailer ran a radio campaign for Valentine’s Day promotion featuring a special offer. Via Media Monitors ad occurrences, AM/FM radio campaign deliveries were determined for 48 markets.
Placier.ai, a leading location analytics and foot traffic intelligence firm, was commissioned by the Cumulus Media | Westwood One Audio Active Group® to measure the foot traffic impact of the total national AM/FM radio campaign.
Placer.ai uses mobile data from a panel of roughly 30 million mobile devices (representing about 8% of the U.S. population) through partner apps.
Markets were classified for very heavy, heavy, medium, light, and very light AM/FM radio campaign weight for the retailer.
AM/FM radio works: There were two big surges in foot traffic on February 11th-12th and February 14th, 2026
Overall, the radio campaign generated a +34% lift in foot traffic.
There is a direct relationship between campaign weight and foot traffic lift: The bigger your radio buy, the greater the foot traffic increases
Markets with very light/light AM/FM radio campaign weight saw foot traffic lift in the 0-10% range.
Markets with medium and heavy AM/FM radio campaign weight generated 10-30% foot traffic increases.
Why does AM/FM radio drive so much foot traffic for retailers? It’s America’s number one mass reach media!
A 2026 study of media reach from Nielsen sourced from Katz, Edison, and MRI-Simmons reveals AM/FM radio is America’s number one mass reach media. No wonder AM/FM radio ads can drive such significant foot traffic to retailers.
A series of additional foot traffic studies reveal AM/FM radio’s ability to drive shoppers to retail locations.
PlaceIQ: An AM/FM radio campaign in 44 markets yields a lift in share of category foot traffic that persists for months
A major home improvement retailer used AM/FM radio to generate a major local spot radio heavy up for its share of category voice in 44 key markets. They implemented a major AM/FM radio surge in March 2019. In that month, their share of voice soared to 38%, well over their typical baseline 25% radio share of voice.
Their share of voice heavy up generated a two-point increase in share of footfall store visits in March and April. The aftereffects of the March surge lasted all through the spring, with elevated levels of share of category store traffic lasting until May.
Motionworks: An AM/FM radio campaign for a tax preparation firm drew outsized foot traffic lifts from consumers with a household income over $50K
The AM/FM radio campaign weight was examined across markets with heavy, medium, and light GRP weight. AM/FM radio works. The bigger the AM/FM radio campaign, the greater the lift in foot traffic to the tax preparation firm.