Sydney revenues drag down radio market in 2008
Sydney’s radio market had a tough 2008, with a drop in revenue of 7% compared to 2007, new figures from Commercial Radio Australia have revealed today.
The poor performance of radio in Australia’s biggest media market, helped drag the country’s whole radio industry into a slight decline for 2008 compared to the previous year. Nationwide advertising revenue for metropolitan stations fell from $644.5m in 2007 to $643.6m in 2008.
However, apart from Sydney, all other major markets did enjoy some growth. Perth grew by 9%; Melbourne by 3%; Brisbane by 1% and Adelaide by 0.2%. But that looks set to evaporate this year. In the last quarter of 2008, nationwide radio revenues fell by 6% compared to the same period in 2007.
CRA’s CEO Joan Warner described Sydney’s market as “patchy”. She said: “The radio industry has proved again to be a very resilient media in tough times.”
But media commentator Steve Allen, MD of Fusion Strategy, said that there was still reason to be cautiously optimistic for radio. He pointed out that the big drop in the last quarter may partly be explained because it contrasted with heavy government spending in 2007 in the run up to the election. He said: We don’t think it was solely the downturn, and if it was then our forecast for 2009 is wrong.”
He predicted radio would see a flat year, which would put it ahead of free television, magaziens and newspapers which would all see declines. He said: “We are certainly not pessimistic for radio.”
And Daryl Mitchell, boss of Regional Mediaworks’ regional radio operation, said that he was also expecting a reasonable start to the year. He said: “There are government campaigns starting to come through. There are important messages to be got through on road safety and skin cancer.”
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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