Fast food brands turning to radio advertising

Fast food brands are primarily spending on radio advertising, according to new research.

The advertising of such foods on radio has shown an exponential increase in new executions in the past three years, says market research firm Ornico’s Fast Food Advertising Report for 2020 to 2022.

The reports says most new advertising executions for 2022 appeared on radio, surpassing visual mediums such as print and television.

The increase in radio advertising was primarily driven by KFC, McDonald’s, Spur and Debonairs Pizza.

SA’s fast food market, which is dominated by the cooked chicken sector, is expected to grow to $4.9bn by 2026, according to a study conducted by Allied Market Research.

The report reveals that though there was a dramatic decrease in new creative executions in April 2020 as a result of Covid lockdown restrictions, the industry quickly recovered and was launching new campaigns by June that year.

Magazines and newspapers showed a drop of 20% in new fast food executions from 2020 to 2021 but now are surprising stable, with new executions rising slightly in 2022.

While levels of new television fast food executions have remained relatively stable, there is a minor drop year-on-year in terms of new advertisements being featured.

In total, 121 fast food brands launched new commercials during the 2020-2022 period, according to the report.  KFC consistently launched the most new creative work over the three-year period, though its numbers have been dropping consistently year on year.

In 2022, McDonalds, with 226 executions, was only marginally behind KFC, with 232 executions, which is a major change from previous years.

All told, however, the top 10 brands have remained consistent over the period, with McDonald's, Spur Steak Ranches, Debonairs Pizza and Steers showing increases in 2022 in new executions compared to previous years. KFC, Nando’s, Wimpy and Mochachos showed marginal decreases in new advertisements.

The report found that while the use of English creative work remains dominant, multilingual commercials are increasing, with the use of Zulu, Xhosa and Afrikaans in combination with English on the rise.