The growth of advertising revenue for commercial radio slowed right down for the first month of 2017, according to the latest figures by Deloitte.
The data showed that ad revenue rose a modest 0.85 per cent in January to $50.551 million – down from the 6.75 per cent growth recorded in December 2016.
Brisbane once again posted the biggest jump in ad revenue last month out of the five mainland state capital cities – up 9.93 per cent to $7.610 million.
Sydney played second fiddle with 0.67 per cent growth to $15.257 million, while Perth’s ad revenue increased by 0.37 per cent to $7.067 million.
Meanwhile, Melbourne and Adelaide’s ad revenue dropped by 0.02 per cent (to $15.448 million) and 9.61 per cent (to $4.743 million) respectively.
For the seven months of the financial year to date, total ad revenue is 1.12 higher (to $445.868 million) compared to the same period a year ago.
Brisbane is leading the growth spurt with a 3.01 per cent increase to $70.693 million, followed by Melbourne (up 1.91 per cent to $137.258 million), Sydney (up 1.77 per cent to $137.273 million) and Perth (up 0.10 per cent) to $61.220 million.
Adelaide is the only market to be experiencing a decline in ad revenue for the fiscal year to date, down 5.21 per cent lower to $39.424 million.
The Deloitte figures also revealed that radio achieved revenue growth for the fourth consecutive calendar year, with total annual growth of 4.04 per cent to $779.960 million in 2016.
Commercial Radio Australia CEO Joan Warner said that while the industry has experienced a slower start to 2017 in terms of ad revenue growth, the industry has been “remarkably resilient”.
“Radio has been a reliable performer over many years, and we expect that trend to continue due to our consistency in attracting audiences,” she said.
