Digital ad revenue is playing an important role in stabilizing overall industry sales for the U.S. commercial radio business.
That’s according to RAB’s 14th Annual Digital Benchmarking Report, produced by Borrell Associates Inc.
The report takes heart from the trend line for digital. Its findings are against a backdrop of revenue totals that are much smaller than 10 or 20 years ago.
The report finds that radio’s digital advertising reached a record in 2025 of $2.3 billion. It also states that digital sales accounted for 24.4% of total revenue nationwide.
That would put overall revenue of the U.S. commercial radio industry last year at $9.4 billion.
For context, in 2005 the radio industry’s revenue was $21.5 billion, according to Radio World’s reporting of RAB data at the time. In 2016, the year RAB said digital ad revenue first surpassed $1 billion, radio’s total that year was about $17.4 billion. (Those were not Borrell-based numbers but give a sense of how the radio revenue picture has shrunk.)
“Borrell forecasts digital revenue will grow slightly faster this year — 9.5% versus 7.8% in 2025 — reaching $2.5 billion,” RAB states in the new release.
“The average station generated $511,873 in digital revenue in 2025, and the average market cluster made $2,263,431.”
RAB President/CEO Mike Hulvey was quoted saying, “Advertisers are recognizing the digital services and products that exist as part of broadcast radio’s marketing toolbox and are taking advantage of it.”
According to RAB, the report finds that “strong and sustained digital growth has largely offset declines in core radio advertising. Since 2022, digital revenue has grown at a compound annual rate of 8.3%, while core radio advertising has declined 2.2%.”
It quoted Borrell Associates CEO Gordon Borrell pointing out that three-fourths of radio buyers are not yet taking advantage of radio’s digital products.
Marketron CEO Jimshade Chaudhari said, “Digital is now the primary driver of revenue stability and growth in radio.”
Another finding: Local advertisers value radio’s “branding power and return on investment,” but many view it as difficult to measure.
“As a result, budgets are flowing toward media that combine radio’s branding with accountability, particularly streaming audio, streaming video and digitally measurable campaigns,” RAB stated.
The report also found rapid adoption of artificial intelligence tools in radio sales organizations but said many managers express concern that AI-driven media recommendations may not favor radio “unless stations strengthen their digital positioning and measurement capabilities.”
The report, which is available to RAB members, is based on ad revenue data from approximately 3,800 radio stations; surveys of advertisers, agencies and radio managers; and market-level digital revenue estimates in 513 U.S. markets.
