Commercial Radio Revenue Tops £420m In 1998

The UK commercial radio industry saw its total revenue increase to over £420 million in 1998 according to figures just released by the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB). This represents an annual growth of 18.6%, or £66 million, as well as being the largest revenue figure yet achieved by the industry. This growth is set against a background of a 7.4% year on year growth in the display advertising marketplace for January-September 1998; full annual figures are not yet available.

Revenue for Q4 1998 comes in at £120 million – an increase of 19.9% on the same period in 1997. However, whilst radio’s growth in display advertising revenue is greater than all of the other media, its share of display advertising slipped back from 5.5% in Q2 1998 to 5.3% in Q3 according to new figures from the Advertising Association. The industry is looking to hit a 5.4% share of display advertising for the whole of 1998 and is on course to meet this target, according to the RAB.

The growth in revenue for commercial radio has been attributed to the increase in interest from the national advertisers who spent 27.3% more on the medium than during 1997. The last three months of the year saw a 30.4% increase in adspend by national advertisers leading national revenue to account for 61.4% of all income across the year.

Justin Sampson, operations director of the RAB, says: “Commercial Radio’s revenue growth accelerated across 1998. This can be attributed to better customer services and continued demand from advertisers. We are confident that Commercial Radio will reclaim the title of fastest growing advertising medium in 1998.”

Radio Advertising Bureau: 0171 306 2500