• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, February 9, 2005

Two television networks--Fox and ABC--rank as two of the top 10 national spot radio advertisers, according to new data released Tuesday by Nielsen Monitor-Plus, the ad tracking division of Nielsen Media Research. The data, which comes from a newly expanded spot radio tracking service, now covers brand-level commercial activity for the top 26 radio markets, or more than 50 percent of all U.S. spot radio ad spending.

According to data released for January, the Fox and ABC TV networks ranked as the second- and fifth-largest spot radio advertisers, buying 34,249 and 27,591 spots, respectively.

The largest spot radio advertiser was Geico, with 37,669 spots.

Top 10 Spot Radio Advertisers

                        Radio Spots

Geico                        37,669 
Fox                          34,249 
McDonald's                   33,052 
Verizon Wireless             28,923 
ABC                          27,591

AutoZone                     26,621 
H&R Block                    26,135 
Home Depot                   25,019 
Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge          20,516 
Cingular Wireless            18,976

Source: Nielsen Monitor-Plus, January 2005. Top 27 radio markets.