Traffic congestion tacks minutes onto your daily commute – and even after schedules and behaviors were disrupted in 2020, those minutes are certainly adding up again! According to the new 2023 Global Traffic Scorecard from transportation analytics company INRIX, Americans added +4 hours of congestion year-over-year, bringing their total to an average of 42 hours, the equivalent of one work week spent sitting in traffic!
Residents of major American cities, and top Radio Metros, faced even more daunting levels of traffic. In all, 15 cities were found to clock in over the U.S. average for congestion. Drivers in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Boston experienced more than double the U.S. average congestion time during their daily travels. And New York City won the undesirable crown of most congested city in the world, reaching a whopping 101 hours.
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DOWNTOWN - EVERYTHING'S WAITING FOR YOU
Not only is U.S. traffic on the uptick, INRIX is noting increases in trips into downtowns and city centers - hubs for office buildings, restaurants, retail, and entertainment. Looking at INRIX's sampling of major city centers in the U.S., virtually all of them saw year-over-year increases, led by New York at +13%, while Chicago remained relatively flat (-1%).
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DRIVE MESSAGES HOME WITH RADIO
If you consider all of the hours spent in congestion to be time spent listening to audio, it works out to huge real estate for radio - and massive opportunities for brands. Edison's Share of Ear finds that AM/FM radio dominates ad-supported audio listening in the car, making up close to 9 out of every 10 minutes spent listening.
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Time spent in the car is prime time for advertisers to reach millions of engaged and attentive consumers with a host of audio ad solutions. Radio ads hitting this on-the-go contingent are connecting to consumers where and when they are in a position to act on messaging. Targeting these consumers further on a Traffic Network, like Katz's TWIN+, with contextually aligned ads and sponsorship opportunities across relevant traffic, weather, and news, sports, entertainment, and lifestyle content, amps up that connection. These short duration ads are effective and efficient ways to boost impact among this captive audience of ideal consumers.