Why Your Radio Ads Should Never Be Bumped

Has this ever happened to you? You’ve found the perfect radio station, crafted your creative strategy, produced your radio commercials, agreed on a schedule, and paid for your ad time. Then your ad gets bumped because another advertiser wanted that time slot and was willing to pay more for it.

Not only is this bad for your marketing plan, but it could be a red flag about the radio partner you’re using.

3 Terrible Things that Happen When Your Ad Gets Bumped

1. Your message isn’t heard as planned.

First and foremost, not all commercial breaks are created equal. Just because your ad ran on the station you planned for, doesn’t mean that it performed as well as it could have.

When your radio advertising gets bumped, your potential customers change. For instance, if you’re attempting to reach morning drive listeners, being bumped just one commercial break later can have a tremendous impact and result in different performance.

At this point in the game, significant time has been invested in understanding your target audience and pinpointing the times of day to reach them on this particular station. So naturally when your ad is bumped from one break to another, it may not reach the audience you’re interested in, let alone the one you paid for.

2. You lose trust in that station.

And you should! If your ad gets bumped, view it as a red flag. To what extent can you trust this media partner and build a relationship with them if they don’t honor your agreements? And if it is a common practice to bump commercials, what does that say about the care they put into making sure the listeners they deliver are right for your needs?

You should be able to rely on the partnership you have with your radio stations and the experts behind them. Yes, things happen and there always needs to be flexibility in ad delivery, but how often is this really happening? For some stations, it’s quite often. Bottom line, your ads should run according to the schedule you and the station have agreed on… most, if not all, of the time.

3. You start to question radio.

If your radio ads perform poorly, it may be tempting to blame the format itself (which is a shame). You might think, “Maybe radio just doesn’t work for my business,” when really the problem lies in the station. There are many reasons we strongly believe in the power of radio, and the benefits are clear with the right media team behind your business.

Part of the Hubbard Difference

It’s never a good practice for radio stations to bump ads. One of the key components of the Hubbard Difference is our focus on doing the right thing, connecting consumers and advertisers to build better businesses and communities. We have a no-bump policy, which means you can count on your ads running as promised.

Learn more about what makes Hubbard Chicago different. Watch our quick video!