CRA’s Ford Ennals: ‘It’ll take another year for commercial radio ad revenue to get to pre-pandemic levels’
Commercial radio ad revenue for the five major Australian capital cities increased by 0.7% to $48.916 million in the month of July compared to $48.571 million a year ago, according to figures released today by industry body CRA.
Sydney stations recorded a 5.9% year-on-year increase in ad revenue to $14.690 million in the month. Perth stations grew 3.0% to $6.488 million and Adelaide stations were up 2.0% to $4.424 million. Brisbane reported a 6.7% decrease to $7.138 million and Melbourne was down 1.4% to $16.177 million.
CRA CEO, Ford Ennals
CRA chief executive officer, Ford Ennals, told Mumbrella, that although ad revenue had yet to rebound to pre-pandemic levels, good progress had been made in the calendar year to date, with revenue up 5% on 2021 and 27% for the same time period on 2020.
“Metro commercial radio revenue growth has slowed in the first month of the new financial year to nearly 1% growth but overall revenue remains 5% up year on year versus 2021. In these uncertain economic times our clients and agencies recognise that radio advertising is more effective than ever, offering a highly flexible and affordable way to reach a large audience,“ he said.
“We think that pre-pandemic levels will be back in another year, until the end of 2023 until we get there. Recent PwC results showed strong growth for linear radio over a five-year period, and for podcasts and digital streaming.
“We’re in a moving market. It’s good news for us and it’s good news for advertisers because it gives them a lot of opportunities, and I think all of us will improve the way that we use digital audio and podcast in terms of reaching audiences in the next two to three years.”
Last week CRA launched an Audio Planning Tool, powered by Nielsen’s Consumer and Media View audience data, one of the first in a suite of research initiatives to be introduced by the industry body over the coming months.
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