Public radio is beginning to surpass public television in terms of donations, according to a report issued by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
The number of individual donors to public television dropped from 3.9 million in 2003 to 3.03 million in 2013; at the same time, public radio donors grew from 2.52 million to 2.85 million from 2003 to 2013, according to the report.
The average contribution for radio is slightly higher for radio than for TV; it was $92 per person in 2003 and grew to $137 in 2013, according to CPB. The average contribution for TV was $93 in 2003 which grew to $134 in 2013.
Across the board for both radio and television, several donation categories — CPB, federal and state grants, local governments and local business — went down from 2012 to 2013, according to the findings. CPB doesn’t speculate on the reasons for the change, however RW has reported that public broadcasting has been heavily impacted by the economic downturn.
Revenue from categories like state colleges and universities, foundations and subscribers offset those losses for both public radio and television. Total support for public radio in 2013 was $1.08 billion, with public TV at $1.69 billion. That’s a 0.3% change for television and a 4.8% increase for public radio, compared to the year before, according to the findings.
The bulk of station revenue, some 29%, comes from individual subscribers, with 15% from CPB and 14% from foundations. The rest comes from a mixture of funds from colleges, foundations, business and other sources, according to CPB.
