The radio business got another shot of good news this week, with a new forecast from BIA/Kelsey predicting that total broadcast radio revenues will grow 4.4% in 2009 to $13.9 billion this year.
Digital radio revenues (including Internet advertising) should top $459 million, bringing the 2010 total to $14.4 billion -- up 5.1%.
This represents a slight increase from BIA/Kelsey's
earlier forecasts, reflecting substantial improvement in the advertising environment in the middle months of this year; some markets are expected to do even better.
According to BIA/Kelsey, the
top 10 markets should see total ad revenues jump 6.3%. That includes big gains of 8% in San Francisco and Philadelphia, powered by national advertising growth. The second-tier markets (ranked 11-25)
will increase about 4%, and smaller markets will lag behind average growth with more modest gains of 2.7%-3.7%.
The revised BIA/Kelsey forecast comes not long after a positive report from the
Radio Advertising Bureau on ad revenues in the first half of the year. According to the RAB, total revenues increased 6% to just over $4.5 billion in the first six months of 2010, led by a 3% increase
in local ad revenue to just over $3 billion and a 16% increase in national ad revenue to $700 million.
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Digital revenues jumped 25% to $157 million, while off-air revenues increased 2% to $375
million and network radio remained flat at $274 million.
A number of major ad categories saw increased spending, per the RAB -- including communications and cellular, up 9% to $385 million;
automotive, up 28% to $336 million; financial services, up 24% to $251 million; and professional services, up 14% to $84 million.