Telecom, Auto Top Ad Categories For Radio

Telecommunications, automotive, media, retail and insurance sectors encompass the bulk of top spending radio advertisers in 1999, according to an Interep Research study released this week.
Last year, the Top-25 radio advertisers accounted for slightly less than one-quarter of all national radio billing, spending $677 million. Overall, the Top-25 companies increased their radio spending 9% over 1998, although almost one-third of these advertisers increased radio spending 25% or more.
Despite significant gains from “dot-com” advertisers last year, no “dot-com” companies ranked in the Top-25 spenders.
Airtouch Communications showed the largest increase in the percentage of its total media budget allocated to radio, jumping from 4.6% in 1998 to 21% in 1999.
– Laura Dely