Top Radio Stations See Year On Year Slide In Ad Revenue
The top radio stations in terms of revenue have seen a decline in the amount spent on radio advertising year on year. Despite its audience being restricted to London, Capital 95.8fm continues to attract a larger share of advertising revenue than any other local or national station. However, figures from ACNielsen MMS show that for the period from March 2000 to February 2001, total spend on advertising with the station was £47m, an 8.6% reduction on the same period the previous year.
In terms of revenue, Capital is trailed by national stations Classic FM and Virgin 1215am. Despite managing to hold onto its share of listening in the latest Rajar figures and winning awards, Classic FM saw an 8.8% year on year decline as its revenue slipped below the £35m mark, while Virgin’s ad revenue slid 7.8% year on year to £18.2m.
Behind the leaders, Heart’s London and West Midlands stations both saw increases, of 20.4% and 19.9% respectively, leaving them in 4th and 9th place in terms of total revenue.
The top radio advertiser for the year to February 2001 was the Central Office of Information (COI), which added a total of £18.3m to radio station incomes. This represented an 80.3% increase year on year. The remainder of the top advertisers reflect the burgeoning market for telecommunications, with BT, Carphone Warehouse, Vodafone Retail, Vodafone and One2One all appearing in the top ten.
Similarly, the top spending brands were headed by the product range at Carphone Warehouse, on which £8m was spent, while a further three brands in the top ten were also mobile communications products or services.
Radio’s diverse audience is reflected in the even spread of adspend across the various categories. The single largest category by adspend is Business & Industrial, which commands 15% of revenue, only just ahead of Entertainment and the Media with 13% and Retail with 12%.
According to analysts at CIA MediaLab, radio adspend shows distinct seasonality, with a peak just before Christmas and troughs just afterwards. Peaks are also see in early summer. Adspend has risen steadily risen each year since 1996. The highest monthly peak was £56m in November 2000.
CIA MediaLab: 020 7803 2000 www.cia.co.uk
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