Radio audience grows, but listening time and the money shrinks

There's good news -- radio's listeners have increased -- but  unfortunately, they're listening less.

(photo: Up, up, and away: it all started with the Lone Ranger)

Their numbers have gone from 232 million a week last year to more than 235 million but their radios are on fewer than 19 hours a week, versus about 20.4 in 2005.

Advertisers, along with listeners, are heading to teevee or the web. Radio advertising decreased 10% from a last year's October; it was he 18th consecutive month of declines according to the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB).

The NY Times reports stations cannot seem to increase their revenue -- third-quarter numbers are "dismal."

CBS Radio reported a revenue drop of 12 percent. Citadel Broadcasting’s revenue dropped by 10.9 percent. CC Media Holdings, which owns Clear Channel Communications, said radio revenue was down 7 percent. Cox Radio revenue fell 6.2 percent; Emmis Communications’ radio revenue decreased 1.5 percent; and Radio One revenue was down 2 percent.

Advertisers that have continued to advertise on radio, like auto dealers and retailers, are in deep economic crisis and pulling back.

The uptick in listeners may have had something to do with the attention raised by the mesmerizing elections. Stations certainly got some business out of the campaigns, though we wonder what piece of radio's decrease in ad revenues can be chalked up to the massive buys Obama and the DCCC made on-line or in innovative places such as video games, and movie rental DVDs.

Analysts say 1954, the year the Lone Ranger left radio and the darkest of the dark years during teevee's realignment of American home entertainment audiences, is the last year that radio revenue fell as much as many say it will this year -- about 9%.

Small market radio is doing better than large market radio, (Seattle is a large market) and teevee isn't getting a pass -- especially local stations.

Marci L. Ryvicker, an analyst at Wachovia Capital Markets told The Times that the problems have been mounting the 1990s, when radio companies consolidated, then began increasing the ad time available."'They started to fight for share, instead of being proactive and thinking of new ways to generate revenue.'"

Then, when advertisers decreased their spending around 2001, during the tech bust, radio stations were stuck with too much time and too few advertisers. "There was too much inventory out there, and rates kept going down, down, down,'  Ryvicker said."

The consolidating of the last decade has produced a product that all sounds the same.

“The group ownerships in various markets tended to blunt the edges of the formats, so that each of the stations could play across more demographic groups, and that way could share more of the revenue from various advertisers,” Jim Poh, an analyst at major agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky, told The NY TImes, “The downfall of that is the medium isn’t as relevant, the stations aren’t as relevant to people as they were.”

Expect evilness -- more layoffs and downsizing at all the stations in the Seattle market before and after the holidays. Public radio is due for a round or two, we're hearing.

Comments

[mark]

"that the problems have been mounting in the 1990s, when radio companies consolidated, then began increasing the ad time available."

sums it up well - too damn many commercials. fewer commercials guys, we might actually listen more. funny thing is KPTK, supposedly not doing so hot, is the biggest whore of the stations I listen to.

[My 2 cents worth]

We pulled our 400k of ads from local radio for a variety of reasons but the main one was the stations couldn't show they were reaching our demographics. KIRO is an excellent example. They reached our demographics when they had the Mariners and a larger variety of local talk show hosts. After the Mariners their programming became erratic and inconsistent. Dave Ross to the afternoon then back to the morning, etc.... Dori may pull in listeners but the angry white male is a small demographic with very little purchasing power. Local radio stations have lost their local identity. Unfortunately TV is moving in that direction as well with the KOMO giving up NWA.

[sparky]

Bla'M you are mixing up your classic TeeVee shows.....Would Superman say
"High Ho, Silver! Awayyyyy!"?

Everyone knows The Lone Ranger said "Exit, Stage Left!"

[chucks]

And Batt Masterson sang "Here I come to save the day".

[sparky]

Noooo that was Huckleberry Hound

[nevets]

Getting momentum. Full page ad in the Chicago Tribune.

Now this is the stuff I want to hear on the radio. Whether it is true or not doesn't really matter but it will definetly get my attention. Just like AA and all those 911 conspiracy theroist they started out with. It worked then. Why not now.

[joanie]

Well said, Mark. I honed in on the increased time given over to ads as well.

When I podcast Dave Ross which I will do in a minute, you get less than twenty minutes of talk in sixty minutes of time. That's ridiculous.

Also, I listen to KPTK but I sure do turn the sound down when all those repetitive commercials come online.

I think a lot of people like talk but we can't tolerate the constant shrill selling of everything.

[AuthenticAndrew]

I kind of like commercials when I've never heard them before. I like knowing what services are out their and if they have a seasonal special. It's when you've heard about Stately Schwartz Manner at least AT LEAST 100 times that our relationship starts to go sour.

[joanie]

Dori may pull in listeners but the angry white male is a small demographic with very little purchasing power.

Interesting, 2c worth.

[RonStevens]

Damn! I was beginning to become optimistic when you stated radio revenue was drying up;then you
said that small market radio is better off.Living in small market Yakima,my hopes were dashed.My
delusion was that the right-wing echo machine would be sprinkled
by a little variety.
By the way,the right wing 24/7 station program director at KIT,at least had the cajones to admit that he runs his station solely for business profits.