Ouch.
Providing a blunt counterpoint to the optimism expressed by commercial radio leaders during the NAB Show this week, the latest U.S. radio revenue numbers are out.
Revenue in March was off 8 percent compared to a year ago — and that’s including a healthy 18% growth in non-spot revenue.
According to the Radio Advertising Bureau, local revenue (the biggest piece of radio’s revenue pie) fell 8%, while national was down a stomach-churning 17%. So if you set aside income from non-spot offerings, radio’s performance in March was –10%.
RAB didn’t post a quarterly total but overall revenue was down 6% and 2% in January and February respectively, as reported earlier, and the industry was down 2% for all of 2007.
