Uncle Sam and Procter & Gamble were the two most frequent advertisers on U.S. radio in 2020.
Media Monitors issued rankings of the top advertisers for the year as measured by the number of spots they ran. (See charts at bottom; the first ranks the top parent companies, the second shows the top specific brands.)
It said the federal government ran about 5.9 million radio spots in measured markets, including ads promoting the census, while P+G ran about 5.3 million. Those two organizations also held the top spots last year.
But Progressive Insurance doubled its number of instances, airing about 2.7 million spots in 2020, rising from No. 9 to No. 3.
“Several new brands entered the top 10, including Babbel, which entered the top 100 at number five,” Media Monitors stated. “In September, the company reported its app had been downloaded more than 10 million times. Allstate jumped to number six from number 57, while Quicken Loans entered at number eight, up from number 18.”
Home Depot slipped in the rankings to No. 3 after being first last year; Lowe’s climbed to No. 4. Companies shooting way up the ranks from last year include T-Mobile and Allstate.
Falling out of the top 10 from last year’s parent rankings areLive Nation Worldwide, which presumably reflects the loss of events during a pandemic, as well as Indeed Inc. and McDonalds.