Commercial Radio Sees End To Revenue Decline

Commercial radio is showing signs of recovery from the advertising slowdown, having seen a year on year increase in investment by advertisers for the first quarter of this year, the first positive sign after three successive quarters of revenue decline.

Total advertising revenue for the first three months of 2002, according to the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB), was £135.7m, up 0.5% on the same period in 2001.

Justin Sampson, managing director, of the RAB: “This is a positive set of numbers and gives optimism that radio is starting to bounce back after a period of slowdown. We think it is a significant achievement when considering the increased COI activity in the run up to the General Election in the equivalent period last year.”

He continued: “The performance is also strong when you consider that other mainstream media are reporting continued declines in advertising levels- commercial radio’s share should increase as a result.”

In particular, growth was seen in the motoring sector, with Toyota and Ford making considerable increases to their investment during the period. Other notable increases came from companies including Orange, Telewest and Masterfoods, while Sainsburys has upped its investment in response to the success of previous campaigns:

“We have been able to demonstrate to ourselves that radio is the most profitable advertising channel available to Sainsburys after TV activity starts to hit levels of decreasing returns.” said Andrew Ground, brand marketing director of Sainsburys. “It is certainly more profitable than national press, local press and leaflets. As we’ve realised how effective it is we’ve done more and more of it.”

RAB: 020 7306 2500 www.rab.co.uk

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