Commercial radio ad revenue dropped 6.1% over 2019, reflecting a ‘challenging year’
Metropolitan commercial radio stations saw revenue fall by 6.1% over the 2019 calendar year (CY), dropping to $760.799m.
That’s compared to a record high in the 2018 CY of $810.322m, according to Deloitte data released by Commercial Radio Australia (CRA).
Radio is doing it tough says CRA CEO Joan Warner
CRA CEO Joan Warner said the results weren’t surprising given the current sentiment in the market.
“The results reflected a challenging end to the year for radio and the media industry as a whole, with weak business confidence and the severity of the bushfire crisis having flow-on effects on ad spend,” said Warner.
Over the December quarter, revenue reached $188.049m, a 9.4% drop from the same period in 2018. All markets felt the pinch – Melbourne dropped 10.9% to $60.838m, Sydney 9.0% to $57.119m, Brisbane 6.5% to $30.164m, Adelaide 5.1% to $16.565m and Perth 13.2% to $23.362m.
The only silver lining in the report was that the December quarter showed a 3.6% increase on the September quarter preceding it.
Warner said broadcasters would continue to work towards a return to growth in 2020, with plans to work with major advertisers and media agencies to promote the value of radio advertising, and on the development of the next stage of the whole of industry automated trading platform RadioMATRIX.
The Deloitte figures report actual revenue received by metropolitan commercial radio stations in the five major capital city markets and include agency and direct ad revenue.
