TORONTO – In 2008, the Canadian radio industry continued to go in the opposite, positive direction as compared to its American counterpart, but a note of caution has already been sounded for 2009.
According to Canadian Broadcast Sales, fourth quarter growth of 10.65% drove national radio sales to a healthy 9.2% increase for the 2008 broadcast year, ended August 31st, 2007
“It was a very good year for Canadian radio,” said Pat Grierson, president of CBS. Retail was again the largest category, up 13.4% over 2007. Automotive was down marginally by 1.3%, telecommunications was off 8.6%, financial services and insurance up 17% and restaurants up 28.1%. “We were gratified by our performance over the past year, especially when contrasted with the United States which was hit with an 8% decrease in the first six months of 2008,” he added.
Q4 highlights included increases in: retail, 48%; restaurants, 49%; financial services, 44%; automotive, 16%, lotteries and gaming, 57% and government, 31%. Telecommunications spending fell 45% (perhaps the telecoms were busy sinking their money into the spectrum auction…).
/article/43-billion-bids-282-licenses-and-15-companies-new-wireless-frontier”http://www.radiocbs.com”>www.radiocbs.com
