Commercial Radio Revenue Off ‘Significantly’ in October; Flat for Year

Radio didn’t benefit this year from a presidential election, and so RAB says radio revenue struggled in October against tough comparisons to the same month a year earlier.
“The downturn can be traced to specific markets in the battleground states from the 2004 election that were up against last year’s high comparison to the current non-political 2005,” the organization stated.
In October, overall revenue was off 7%, pulled down by a 19% plummet in national ad sales. Local fell 2%, non-spot radio revenue fell 8%.
Year to date, total U.S. radio revenue is flat compared to the first 10 months of 2005.