TORONTO – The death knell has been sounded so often for radio that many take it as gospel the oldest type of electronic media is on an irrevocable slide downwards.
But with results like these, which have been persistent for some time now, those bells must now be muted.
According to Canadian Broadcast Sales, the national radio sales company that is owned by Corus Entertainment and Rogers Communications, the Canadian radio industry continues to produce strong revenue growth with a 6.8% increase in sales over the first two quarters of 2007. Second quarter growth of 4.9% was supported by 8.3% in the first quarter.
And that’s without any federal election spending, as was the case in 2006.
"Forward bookings in the second half of the year are tracking nine per cent ahead of last year," added Patrick Grierson, president of CBS. "We are already seeing inventory challenges in some markets and are expecting more in the back half of the year based on the current level of demand. Despite this continued support for radio, many advertisers aren’t taking advantage of the cost and availability benefits of earlier execution."
CBS, a national sales firm representing approximately 60% of all private Canadian radio stations, provides the broadest single industry measure of national radio sales, says the company. CBS station groups operate over 322 individual stations in 128 markets, with clients including Corus, Rogers, Astral, Cogeco, Golden West, Newcap, Pattison, Rawlco, and Vista, plus other independent smaller market operators.
The "Adults 25-54" demographic, with a 40.9% share, continues to far outpace other demos, although this is a decrease from 44.4% last year.
"We are seeing dollars being reallocated to more targeted demos such as Women 25-54," added Grierson. "The ability to reach specific audiences is one of the clear benefits radio has over other media and it’s gratifying to see advertisers and agencies recognize this based on how money is being spent. Another segment benefiting from this approach is the 50+ baby boomer categories."
The top five demos this quarter were: Adults 25-54 (40.7%); Adults 18-49 (15.6%); Women 25-54 (14%); Adults 25-49 (4.4%); and Men 18-34 (4.2%), says the release.
The top five national advertising categories captured 55.4% of all spending. Retail $6.9 million (22.8%); Telecommunications $3 million (10%); Financial $2.2 million (7.3%); Automotive/Auto Aftermarket $2.1 million (7%); and Restaurant/Fast Food $1.9 million (6.3%). Government spending dropped out of the top five due largely to the absence of a federal election this year.
"Election spending last year accounted for almost $1.4 million in revenue, so results this quarter are quite impressive when taking this into account," said Grierson. "We’re also seeing broad-based growth across almost all of the top ad categories."
The top five Q2 major growth categories on CBS-represented stations were: Pharmaceutical/Medicine (+105.8%); Insurance (+98.6%); Movies/Media/Entertainment (+84.2%); Restaurant/Fast Food (+47.7%); and Financial (+45.8%).
