March commercial radio ad revenue dips amid tightening spend: CRA
Commercial radio metropolitan ad revenue is continuing its decline compared to last year, with metropolitan March monthly ad revenue down 2% year on year, according to figures released by industry body Commercial Radio and Audio.
Monthly ad revenue across Australia’s five major metropolitan markets totalled $62.746 million in March, compared to $64.034 million last year.
First quarter revenue is also down 1.6% from $158.37 million to $155.825 million, while quarterly metro ad revenue is up 1.6% from 2021’s $153.418 million.
“Australians have been hit with increased interest rates and tightening purse strings. This, and the significant reduction in government advertising spending, has resulted in a tough advertising market for most. Commercial radio has not been immune to this,” CRA chief executive Ford Ennals said.
“Radio advertising continues to offer bang-for-buck, with figures for direct spending by networks remaining resilient and overall spending tracking roughly in-line over the past three years. This has included strong investment in radio in March by advertisers in the auto and supermarket/convenience store segments.”
On a per-state basis, only Perth saw an increase in monthly revenue, which was up 2.3% to $7,923 million. Sydney stations meanwhile decreased 0.2% to $19.647 million.
Melbourne stations are down 3.2% to $20.641 million, while Brisbane stations saw a 4% decline to $9.269 million. Adelaide stations saw the most revenue hit, with a 6.4% decline to $5.266 million.
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