Commercial radio advertising revenue remains down in the March quarter

Commercial radio continues to take a financial hit as advertising revenue remains down compared to 12 months ago.

Sydney 2GB breakfast presenter Ben Fordham saw a decline in listeners, but remained number one in his timeslot. Picture: John Grainger

Sydney’s major radio stations remain among the hardest hit during the pandemic by declining advertising revenue, new figures show.

Nationally metropolitan advertising revenue is down by 14.48 per cent for the first nine months of the 2020/21 financial year to $452.3 million, according to new data released by industry body Commercial Radio Australia and Deloitte.

For the March quarter Sydney ad revenue was down 5.06 per cent to $44.9 million year-on-year but Queensland was even harder hit – down 9.1 per cent to $23 million.

The results include agency and direct advertising revenue.

It comes after latest radio ratings show high-profile 2GB Sydney breakfast presenter Ben Fordham posting a decline in listeners, falling 2.6 percentage points to 15.5 per cent from the first survey of 2021.

He still remains number one in his timeslot and 2GB is part of the Nine Entertainment’s radio stable.

Neil Breen – the host of 4BC’s breakfast show, also owned by Nine Radio – saw his ratings fall by 0.7 percentage points to 7.2 per cent, putting his program in 7th spot.

Commercial Radio Australia’s chief executive officer Joan Warner said despite advertising market conditions improving in 2021 there was still some way to go to fully recover to levels seen prior to the pandemic.

“Some of radio’s biggest ad sectors have still not recovered,” she said.

“It is frustrating that with radio audiences up in the pandemic the ad dollars are not keeping pace.

“We are seeing a slow recovery but we do expect next quarter to reflect the return of investment in radio.”

Ms Warner said radio continued to play a “central role” in the lives of most Australians who tune in each week.

“Radio’s streaming and podcast audiences are growing strongly and we have an opportunity to monetise that in combination with the mass reach offered by broadcast radio,” she said.

Radio advertising revenue hasn’t bounced back as quickly as television, which grew by 8.5 per cent in February year-on-year, and digital, which was up 1.2 per cent in the same period, data from the Standard Media Index showed.

The nation’s largest radio market – Victoria – recorded only a 0.12 per cent fall year-on-year to $52.1 million for the March quarter.

On the FM dial, Nova100’s Melbourne breakfast trio of Sam Pang, Chrissie Swan and Jonathan Brown bucked the trend and increased its share by 1.1 per cent to 7.9 per cent.

The Melbourne breakfast show pairing of Ross Stevenson and Russel Howcroft dropped by 0.7 percentage points to 21.5 per cent but remains the most-listened early morning show.

Neil Mitchell, 3AW’s morning presenter in Melbourne, grew his audience share by 0.5 percentage points in the March quarter to 19.5 per cent.