The good news is: easy comps for November 2008. But that’s about all you can say for the pothole that is the Radio Advertsing Bureau report on Miller Kaplan Arase & Co. numbers for the month of November 2007. Local revenue was down at -5%, national was down at -15%, a combined drop of -7%. The usual perkiness in the non-spot category helped a little, but it remains a fringe revenue stream, and the 14% gain it contributed to the bottom line massaged the bottom line up to -6%.
Anthony DiClemente at Lehman Brothers said the results weren’t unexpected, but even manage to edge beneath his company’s projection of a 5% decline. He said that continuing challenges will also put December on the red side of the ledger, but predicted that tight television inventory will help hold the bleeding to -4% overall for both the final month of Q42007 as well as for the quarter as a whole.
