As local radio works to keep pace with digital innovation, the landscape of radio advertisers reveals an attractive and diverse group. That’s according to information contained in BIA/Kelsey’s latest state-of-the-industry report “Local Radio Stations Profiles and Trends for 2014 and Beyond.”
Local radio generates over 10% of its advertising from five different groups of advertisers: retail (18% of total radio industry revenue), financial/insurance (17%), restaurants (14.5%), automotive (14%) and technology (10%), the report says.
Nationally, BIA/Kelsey’s Media Ad View Plus forecast reveals local radio stations receive 14.3% of all advertising spent by finance and insurance companies and 12.1% of all advertising spending by restaurants. This diversity of advertisers, along with the strong market share with those advertisers, indicates radio remains an important part of the advertising mix for several groups of national and local advertisers.
Another indication of the success of the radio industry’s performance is the recent increase in values of publicly traded radio companies. Like other local media companies, values of public radio companies have increased by 68.2% through the first three quarters of 2013, easily beating the performance of the overall stock market. But as competition for audience share continues to cut into audience share for radio stations, the industry needs to be on its toes to remain competitively viable.
