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Report Assesses CBS Radio Strengths in IPO Context

BIA/Kelsey offers some tidbits of its data

CBS Radio Stations. Source: BIA/Kelsey
CBS Radio may not own many stations compared to other top U.S. radio companies, but its revenue performance is powerful in big markets where it competes — for example, claiming 35% of radio revenue in the New York market.

That’s part of the story that emerges from a corporate profile of CBS Radio being promoted by research firm BIA/Kelsey.

Its report “CBS Radio as It Approaches the IPO” is intended to be the first in a series of public media company profiles the BIA/Kelsey will publish. It offers the information for sale so most of the data in it is proprietary; but in announcing it, the company put out some general numbers about CBS Radio.

“The report indicates that of the $146.3 billion in U.S. local advertising revenues in 2016, $64 billion (44%) will be generated in the 26 markets in which CBS Radio competes,” it wrote. “Digital/online local advertising in those markets is expected to generate $17.9 billion in 2016 and should grow rapidly. Radio advertising in those markets is estimated to reach $5.8 billion this year.”

[See a CBS map of its stations and markets.]

It said that CBS Radio ranked second last year in U.S. radio revenue at $1.2 billion, which was “generated by only a fraction of the number of stations owned by number-one-ranked iHeartMedia, with $2.6 billion.” BIA/Kelsey says that’s because CBS Radio is concentrated in the biggest markets. “CBS Radio has dominant clusters in the eight largest radio markets in the nation and in many of its smaller markets. “

It found that CBS Radio clusters generated 46.4% of the radio revenue in Hartford, 35% in New York, 33.5% of the radio revenue in Detroit, 33.1% of the radio revenue in Boston and Philadelphia and 29.4% in Chicago in 2015.

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