After 15 years of flat and negative revenue reports, the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) announced last year it was going to stop publishing revenue reports altogether. This comes after the RAB scaled down the frequency with which it issues revenue reports in 2015, deciding to publish them bi-annually instead of quarterly.
With headlines like these, it’s no surprise that the RAB is getting out of the business of making projections about radio revenues … there is not much to tell advertisers or Wall Street about:
“Magna: Radio Revenue Will Decline 4.4% In 2017” – Radio Ink
“Rough Ad Growth Ahead For Radio?” – Radio+Television Business Report
“Report: Radio Ad Revenue Flat In 2016” – Radio Ink
“U.S. Radio Revenue: $17.4 Billion, Down 1% Last Year” – Radio World
“Radio’s Forecast Revenue Decline” – Radio Ink
“RAB: Radio Revenue Down 3%” – Radio Intelligence
“RAB: Radio Revenue Down 25% in Q2” – Adweek
“Forecast: Radio Revenue Down 11% in Top 50 Markets” – Adweek
“No Relief in Sight as Radio Ad Revenue Declines” – Reuters
“Radio Q3 Revenue Nosedives” – Adweek
“Radio Revenue Plummets in June” – Adweek
As the NAB and RAB work to impress advertisers and radio personnel this week at their annual Radio Show in Austin by discussing the future of music and tech with topics like connected cars and drones, the truth still stands that radio revenue is flat-lining and competitors and innovation are squeezing them out.
musicFIRST came to Austin to remind the industry that the future of music is coming. Hint: it doesn’t include terrestrial radio that neglects music creators as it tries to cling to a profit.
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