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When will Infinity cut spot loads?
Infinity has announced plans to reduce spot loads on 60 of its more than 180 stations, but Wachovia Securities analyst Jim Boyle says he hasn't seen any evidence of it yet in his monthly analysis of top 12 market data from Media Monitors. But he is pleased that radio operators resisted the temptation to add inventory in May - - historically the top month for radio ad demand and revenues - - and held to an FM drive time average of 12.0 units per hour for the month. "There is still room for improvement, in our view, as several groups maintain inventory levels above the industry average. Such groups include Emmis, Infinity, Disney, Susquehanna, Beasley and Greater Media, to name a few. We think that the next crucial step is for Infinity to slash its spot load level, which has been above 13.0 units per hour on average (drive time - - FM only) since January 2005," Boyle wrote. So when is the effort by many groups, led by Clear Channel's Less is More initiative, going to pay off? Boyle says it is already - - but not for all stations or all markets. "Some radio groups are indeed regaining the pricing power that was lost in 2003 and 2004. On the quarterly conference calls (just a few weeks ago), we heard that advertiser demand had increased in various markets and across several categories, with critical auto being one of them. We still expect the rest of the year to be choppy, with some months better than others. Overall, however, we are pleased with the changes that are evolving in radio - - at both the product and operational levels," Boyle said.
Inventory load by company
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Average # of units per hour
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Drive Time, May 2005
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Entercom (FM)
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10.3
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Entravision
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10.5
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Clear Channel (FM)
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10.9
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WEAZ-FM
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11.2
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Cox Radio
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11.3
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Salem
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11.3
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Radio One
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11.8
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FM average
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12.0
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Crawford
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12.0
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Univision
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12.2
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Bonneville
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12.3
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Greater Media
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12.5
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SBS
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12.8
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Susquehanna (FM)
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13.0
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Emmis
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13.1
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Disney/ABC (FM)
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13.2
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Viacom/Infinity (FM)
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13.3
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Jefferson-Pilot
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13.3
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Service
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13.4
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Beasley (FM)
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13.7
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Liberman
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13.9
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Howard University
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16.7
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Source: Wachovia Securities, Media Monitors
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