RBR has obtained data generated by one of the national rep firms showing just how soft national spot pacings for radio are in Q1. The numbers are pretty shocking. As of January 7th, when the data was generated, the top 10 markets were pacing 18.6% behind where they were at the same date a year earlier. Only one of those top 10 markets was in positive territory – Philadelphia. Markets 11-25 were about the same, down 16%. For the entire top 100 markets, pacings were down 17.2%.
RBR/TVBR observation: Was it just coincidence that Philadelphia, a PPM market, was the only top 10 market in plus territory? Houston, the other PPM market, was not up, but it was off less than 7%, so better than most of the other big markets. Only two others in the top 25, Phoenix and Baltimore, had positive pacings.
Q1 2008 national radio pacings as of 1/7/08
Note: Under the Standard Broadcast Calendar, Q1 of 2007 had 12 weeks and Q1 of 2008 has 13 weeks.
