“Broadcast radio has now entered a long term decline similar to the one experienced by print media in the last 10 years and for similar reasons: reach and listening remains high overall but younger demographics become hard to reach as they shift to digital, mostly on-demand audio.” This is the conclusion of Magna Global, an international research firm, based on its recently released report on global advertising marketplace for 2015.
While overall advertising sales in the U.S. grew by 2.1 percent in 2015, Magna Global reports that it was entirely driven by digital media, with traditional media ad sales decreasing by 5.5 percent, including 3 percent by radio, the same amount radio decreased in 2014. Globally, ad sales for radio were flat, generating a total of $32 billion.
Digital media ad sales, inversely, grew by 17 percent globally and are expected to continue growing by double digits in 2016 thanks to mobile advertising, video formats and social media.
There is expected to be some growth both globally and in the U.S. in 2016, but that is more of a false positive than a sign that things are set to pick-up. The boost is likely to come from incremental spending from non-recurring events like the U.S. presidential and general elections, Summer Olympics, UEFA Football championships and the Pan-America Football tournament.
To read the full report, click here.