Radio revenue results during the first quarter of 2008 were nothing to write home about, according to the latest Radio Advertising Bureau/Miller Kaplan Arase & Co. report. Total business approached $4.5B, but that represented a -5% decrease compared to the same quarter in 2007. Q1 2007 wasn’t much to write home about either, but at least it was in the black with a gain of 1%.
Non-traditional results were very good, leavening what was a combined loss of -7% in the local and national spot categories. Local was down -6% and national was down -11%. Along with the +15% increase registered by what RAB is now calling “off-air” was a +7% increase in network revenue results.
RAB said political revenue helped smooth out the tough quarter, and noted key growth categories, which included insurance (+24%), professional services and specialty retail (each +20%) and beverages (+12%).
