Local Radio Topped $13.6 Billion In 2022 Revenue, Up 7.4%
Radio Revenue Rising
BIA ADVISORY SERVICES reports that total local radio over-the-air and digital revenue for 2022 topped $13.6 billion in 2022, growing 7.4% from $12.6 billion in 2021. Over-the-air advertising grew 2.2% to $11 billion (up from $10.7 billion in 2021) and digital income rose 35% to $2.6 billion (up from $1.9 billion in 2021).BIA VP/Forecasting NICOLE OVADIA noted, “Looking at last year’s ad revenue results, it shows that radio is maintaining an important position in their local markets, particularly as it expands and improves its online digital presence. This year, we are making a particular effort to track the digital revenue of local radio stations and believe this breakout in our forecast will be valuable to everyone in the industry.” For this year, OVADIA forecasts that the bump in revenue experienced in 2022 will be harder this year without significant political spending, but expects that 2024 political advertising will start earlier in the cycle than usual, potentially bleeding into late Q4 of 2023. For the top 10 radio stations by OTA revenue, a few adjustments in rankings occurred in 2022. While WASHINGTON, DC all-news station WTOP maintained its long-time leading spot with $69 million in advertising revenue, other all-news stations struggled. New to the list is WSB-A News/Talk in Atlanta, with $31.6 million in 2022 revenues. In radio station sale transactions, BIA VP/Media Valuations LAUREN ROSS added, “The radio deal market can best be described as sluggish in the past three years. Although deal volume increased by two-thirds in 2022 to $300 million from $190 million in 2021, total radio station sales have been very low since 2018. All totaled, there were just seven radio buys of $10.0 million or more in 2022.”
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