Which radio advertising software selection criteria matter most?

What to take away

Which criteria matter most, and how should you weight them?

Use these weights as a starting scorecard. Write them down before the first demo.

Worked example

The table below fills in the scorecard for three shortlisted tools. Scores are out of 5. Weighted totals use the weights above. This is an illustrative example, not a vendor quote.

Rank 1: broadcast or platform fit

Broadcast tools trade in spots, dayparts and stations. Platform dashboards trade in audiences and objectives. Confusing the two is a common procurement mistake.

UK broadcasters use J-ET for spot booking and reconciliation, while P Squared supplies playout and scheduling tools. Radiocentre sets commercial radio standards and RAJAR measures audiences.

US systems such as WideOrbit and Marketron cover traffic, billing and sales, but both quote custom pricing. RadioTraffic and RCS Zetta serve similar traffic and automation jobs.

Platform dashboards from Spotify Ad Studio and Google Ads cover self-serve audio. YouTube's guide to video ad formats explains skippable, non-skippable and bumper options. The six-second bumper limit shapes what you can say in a short audio-led spot.

LinkedIn's self-serve advertising documentation sets out objectives, formats and targeting you can buy without a sales contact. TikTok's business resource centre covers audio ad formats and creative specs.

Our guide to radio advertising tools and suppliers for 2027 maps those categories, so you can tell which job each vendor is really selling.

Rank 2: data ownership and exit

Ask what format your data comes back in, and what stays live after the contract ends. Logs, invoices, consent records and campaign history should leave with you.

If the vendor holds the only clean copy, your switching cost rises. Radio advertising vendor due diligence in England covers the ownership, insurance and data questions procurement will ask next.

Rank 3: pricing model and total cost

Ask whether the price is per seat, per campaign or a flat licence, then model all three against your own volume.

A per-seat model punishes team growth. A campaign-based model looks cheap in month one and expensive in month nine.

Three illustrative GBP benchmarks help compare models. A per-seat licence at £120 a seat for five users is £7,200 a year. A per-campaign fee at £2,500 for 24 campaigns is £60,000 a year. A flat licence at £18,000 a year covers unlimited users. Treat these as typical ranges to test, not published vendor quotes.

WideOrbit and Marketron do not publish standard rates. Ask for a written estimate that includes migration, training and the first reporting cycle.

Rank 4: workflow, approvals and audit

Who books the airtime, who reconciles the invoice, who reads the performance report, who signs off the copy? Each answer narrows the field before a sales call.

If one person books and another reconciles, you need shared access and an audit trail rather than a single seat. Copy that needs legal or brand approval needs version history and sign-off records.

Free tools often lack that trail.

Rank 5: reporting and reconciliation

Can the system match spots to invoices and produce template reports? In the UK, J-ET handles spot booking and reconciliation while RAJAR supplies audience data. MediaMonitors monitors radio airplay and Nielsen Audio provides audience measurement in the US.

Check whether reporting exports are raw CSV files or scheduled dashboards. One analyst can run a spreadsheet for a handful of stations. Volume and sign-off requirements decide when you need a system.

Rank 6: integration and automation

Does the tool connect to traffic, billing or automation systems you already run? RCS Zetta handles automation, RCS Selector handles music scheduling, and MusicMaster schedules music. A traffic system that cannot exchange logs with those tools creates manual work.

Ask for a named integration list, not a promise of an API. Then test one export with your own data before you sign.

Rank 7: onboarding and support

Who migrates data, trains staff and answers requests in the first reporting cycle? Implementation is where quotes diverge most. Those hours often cost more than the licence itself.

Managed onboarding and template reports suit a single analyst. Custom pipelines need internal owners. If you expect to change vendors within a year, choose month-to-month terms and clean data exports.

Common questions

Can we manage radio campaigns without paid software?

Spreadsheets work for a handful of stations and one booker. They fail once copy versions, invoices and reporting multiply, because nobody can trace who changed what.

How long should selection take?

Allow three to six weeks: two on requirements and scoring weights, two on demos, then a fortnight on references and pricing.

Do we need broadcast and platform tools at the same time?

Only if your plan buys both. Many teams start with one, prove that reporting works, then add the other in the next planning cycle.