It should come as no surprise that the radio business suffered along with just about every other business during the horrific economic climate that characterized 2009. But according to a report from Statistics Canada, they did not suffer nearly as much as did their US counterparts.
SC said that private radio lost 5.5% compared to 2008, a drop in total revenue from $1.56B to about 1.47B. The brunt of the loss was endured by the nation’s top five census metros, which fell from $726M to $663M, a loss of 8.7%. Smaller census markets lost 4.3% to $403M and non-census markets lost only 1.3% to $408M.
Meanwhile, according to the Radio Advertising Bureau, US stations were in the process of bleeding away 18% of total revenue.
AM stations were hit harder than FMs in Canada, losing 7.7% to $295M. FMs dropped 5% to $1.18B.
Profit margins slipped from 21.1% to 17.9%, a number SC said was the lowest since 2002.
Stations broadcasting in French actually enjoyed a 1.1% increase in revenue, while English speaking stations dropped 6.6% and ethnic stations dropped 1.1%.
