Spot revenue for radio’s third quarter of 2011 came in flat, which is where it has been all year long. However, continued gains in digital and other income streams were enough to propel the bottom line to a 2% gain, both in Q3 and for YTD. The Radio Advertising Bureau/Miller, Kaplan, Arase report recorded total Q3 income in excess of $4.5B.
Flat isn’t bad when it comes to spot income, which still accounts for the bulk of the business. The $3.665B brought in during Q3 took the industry to within a whisker of the $10.5B mark for the year. Total revenue is for the quarter was $4.527B and stands at $12.891B so far in 2011.
Income from other sources included $390M from off-air streams, $282M from network and $190M from big-gainer digital – the latter category was up 17% for the quarter and is up 18% for the year.
“The positive growth we’ve seen over the twenty-one month period is unprecedented since the late 1990’s. Once again, this underscores Radio’s strength during these unusual economic times,” says Jeff Haley, President and CEO of RAB.
Here are the latest results, expressed in millions of dollars.
| Revenue | Q3 2011 | % chng | YTD 2011 | % chng |
| Spot | $3,665 | flat | $10,449 | flat |
| Network | $282 | 2% | $824 | 2% |
| Digital | $190 | 17% | $524 | 18% |
| Off-air | $390 | 10% | $1,094 | 8% |
| Grand Total | $4,527 | 2% | $12,891 | 2% |
| Source: RAB, Mille, Kaplan, Arase & Co. | ||||
In terms of revenue, the biggest ad category is automotive, and it was up 6% to $393M. Restaurants improved 15% to $375.4M; insurance was up a phenomenal 48% to $270.4M; beverages rose 10% to $259.8M; entertainment categories were slightly better than flat, up 1% to $131M; and home furnishing was up a robust 29% to $122.2M.
The third quarter marked a rebound for automotive, which had been suppressed in the aftermath of the Japan earthquake/tsunami.
A variety of restaurant chains led the charge in spending in Q3, with four spending over $10M apiece. Taco Bell ($26.7M) was the leader, followed by Dunkin Donuts ($22.6M), Applebee’s ($12.1M) and Jack in the Box ($10.8M). The Jack in the Box total represented a 745% increase in spending.
Political was nothing special for radio in Q3 — $3.4M in spending brought YTD spending to $13.1M. Look for that to improve markedly in 2012.
RBR-TVBR observation: In a stagnant economy, any financial result that can be expressed with a plus sign and/or black ink is a good thing. One of these days, however, the radio industry is going to have to take advantage of the string of easy comps it has been producing and put some bigger numbers in the percent column.
