Australia: radio revenue rises by 4.6%

By James Cridland for media.info
Posted 9 November 2015, 5.18am est

Today, while Rove and Sam (above) did their first show for Sydney's 2DAY FM, the commercial radio industry released strong new revenue figures.

It's worthy of note that the Australian commercial radio industry appears to invest in talent (personality presenters and personnel) rather more than many other countries. Radio stations are led by the people on them, rather than an opaque music positioning statement.

There's a lesson: leading on presenter talent (the unique content that radio has and that Spotify doesn't) appears to be a successful business move.

Press release

The commercial radio industry has recorded growth in metropolitan advertising revenue of 4.60% for October, to a total of $71.559 million, according to figures sourced by Deloitte and released today by industry body Commercial Radio Australia (CRA).

Figures for the individual markets showed that Adelaide again led growth figures, reporting an increase of 11.82% to $6.598 million in October compared to the same month a year ago, while Perth increased by 7.12% to $9.980 million and Brisbane climbed by 6.16% to $11.267 million. Melbourne rose by 2.56% to $21.934 million and Sydney was up 2.77% to $21.780 million.

The financial year-to-date figures show growth across all markets with a rise of 7.66% to $267.104 million. Adelaide was up 15.31% to $25.093 million; Perth was up 7.94% to $36.128 million, Sydney increased 7.82% to $82.215 million, Melbourne rose 6.44% to $82.159 million; and Brisbane rose 5.28% to $41.508 million.

The Deloitte figures report actual revenue received by metropolitan commercial radio stations and include all metropolitan agency and direct revenue.