Australia’s metropolitan commercial radio networks reported a five percent increase in advertising revenue in 2022 to reach $701.402 million compared to $665.619 million in 2021, according to figures released by industry body Commercial Radio & Audio (CRA).
Melbourne stations led the revenue gains with 8.1% growth in calendar year 2022, while Sydney increased by 7.7%. Perth rose 2.2%, Adelaide 1.8% and Brisbane 0.1%.
CRA chief executive officer Ford Ennals said the industry had rebounded well from the impacts of Covid over the past two years, however radio had not yet fully recovered from 2019 pre-pandemic levels.
“Radio has benefited from strength across a broad range of business sectors and the return to cars, with revenue ending the calendar year five percent higher than 2021 and 23% above levels in 2020.
“We are moving closer to a full recovery and while we have seen some caution among advertisers in December, we believe radio will continue to do well in 2023 due to the success of broadcasters in attracting new listeners and maintaining audiences at a record high across broadcast and streaming. Forward bookings for the March quarter are looking solid.”
For the month of December, ad revenue declined by 6% year on year to $52.664 million, and remains 2% below the levels of December 2019.
Melbourne revenue was 7% lower to $17.120 million in December versus the same month a year ago and Sydney was down 5% to $15.289 million. Brisbane was down by 7% to $8.308 million, Adelaide was 2% lower to $4.733 million and Perth declined 6% to $7.214 million.
The revenue figures were compiled by media data analytics company Milton Data and include agency and direct ad revenue.
The last GfK radio ratings of 2022 showed commercial radio stations in the five major metro markets gained 940,000 listeners compared to a year ago, with 82% of Australians aged 10+ tuning in weekly.