Douglas Mcarthur, managing director of the Radio Advertising Bureau, believes that the radio industry is collaborating internally to market radio as an advertising brand and that the medium is presenting a united front against competitive media.
McArthur, the keynote speaker at today’s Radio Fights Back conference, predicts that changes within the industry will encourage advertisers to value the media brand of radio advertising.
A widely held view is that radio has been badly hit by the recession but McArthur points out that radio advertising has held its brand share of advertising over the past 4 years, while outdoor, magazines and regional press have all dropped their share.
In his speech McArthur recognised that published revenue figures for radio fail to take into account the additional revenue recieved through sponsorship and promotions. This is estimated to add an extra 30% to most stations revenue.
McArthur quashed the view that radio is a downmarket medium by pointing out that the ILR audience is closer to the UK average demographics than any other medium and that it is substantially more upmarket than television.
He went on to discuss the importance of marketing radio and suggested the key to radio advertising growth is to be outward looking to customer needs and not inward looking to radio’s needs.
A moderate increase in revenue growth will have a dramtic impact in terms of profit. McArthur’s target is to double radio’s national advertising revenue in 3 years. This means an extra £60m directed in radio’s direction. McArthur concluded his speech by saying that radio advertising is poised for rapid growth. The advent of national stations have forced customers to start re-assessing the radio advertising brand, which in turn improves the awareness of ILR stations.
