CRA says commercial radio annual ad revenue continues to hold steady in a challenging market

Commercial Radio & Audio (CRA) says that while annual broadcast radio ad revenue was down 4% in 2023, radio is still performing consistently well in a tough media market, according to annual and quarterly figures from the industry body.

Broadcast radio ad revenue for 2023 across the five major metropolitan markets was $673.252 million, compared to $701.402 million in 2022.

Ford Ennals, CEO of CRA, says ‘‘Overall commercial radio ad revenue remains broadly stable despite a challenging market, with sustained strong broadcast radio revenue and record levels of growth in digital audio revenue in 2023.”

Metropolitan radio broadcast advertising revenue results exclude digital audio streaming and podcast revenue, which CRA says reached record levels in 2023, up 27% for the year.

“Radio is consistently out-performing other media, and our annual broadcast ad revenue was actually up 1.1% from 2021, but clearly there are pressures on the broader ad market,” Mr Ennals says.

“Ad spending in the travel and automotive sectors is encouraging and we are positive about radio’s performance for the year ahead.”

Quarterly broadcast radio ad revenue ad revenue fell 6% in the fourth quarter across the five metro markets, with Q4 2023 broadcast revenue at $173.915 million, compared to Q4 2022’s $185.062 million. Digital audio ad revenue was up 31% for Q4 2023, compared to the same period last year.

The figures were compiled by media data analytics company Milton Data.