Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
As media outlets continue to go dark many are looking for new ways to keep their mics on. “It’s increasingly imperative that radio must continue to proactively educate on the opportunities we bring to campaigns at all levels,” said Mike Hulvey, President & CEO of RAB. Hulvey is one of five media insiders we spoke with who is helping their clients to have healthy revenue growth without political dollars in 2025.
“The first priority for the news media industry is to invest in a coordinated branding campaign to reinforce the value, engagement, and loyalty of news media audiences,” Jack Myers, media ecologist and founder of Media Village said.
But for a stable view, Managing Director at BIA Advisory Services Rick Ducey said to put advertising dollars aside and look at the core advertising your outlet receives. “That gives you a more stable view now that the data is stable,” he said. “But at least you’re comparing, revenue basis to [similar] revenue basis. In a political year, everyone knows there’s going to be an influx of political dollars in an even year.”
While the nearly $11 Billion spent on political advertising this year may be eye popping, Gordon Borrell, CEO of Borrell and Associates, noted, it’s just a drop in the advertising revenue bucket. “It’s a small percentage because the total advertising market in the U.S. is over $300 billion. [Political advertising] seems like a lot because it’s concentrated in television, and it can be 15 to over 20% of total revenues in a year.”
However, there is hope, especially for those with access to OTT platforms. “If you’ve got a connected television platform, it’s probably not going to be so difficult because the tide is clearly rising there,” Steve Passwaiter, President of Silver Oak Political, noted.
This rising tide plus some top adverting verticals could help grow revenue. “Among the top [growing verticals] are real estate, retail and restaurants. So, if you’re trying to get dollars into your media business, if you go after people that are trying to buy advertising, why not hang out with them and get some of their ad spend?” Ducey noted.
Passwaiter said, “You still need to think long and hard as an operator about what do I need to do here to really amp up my share coming from local markets and the way that you do that is you’ve got to find a way to get transactional business to give you more and you’ve got to find a way to grow your direct business. And it’s probably a good time to evaluate your offer.”
Myers added that advertisers might use more caution this year and if the outlet is competing with digital platforms, it’s essential “to highlight their unique value propositions, like credibility and local insights, to retain and attract advertisers.”
It’s not just the advertisers needs stations need to keep in mind. It’s also the needs of the consumer and Hulvey believes many will be cautious in 2025. “We expect to see some cautious consumer concerns; however, categories spanning legal and professional services, health care, financial planning, recruitment, insurance and even automotive have indicated growth for the coming year. Those categories align well with audiences of strong news brands.”
But still, Borell notes it is key to control company spending. “The only way for stations to survive and to continue to attract for the public companies’ investors is to put expense control front and center. It becomes more of an expense control focus than a revenue growth focus. There will be some attention given to revenue growth, particularly with OTT that is showing growth, but not at a pace that is compensating for the loss in broadcast dollars.”
Looking forward to 2025, growth might be small, but outlets will need to work extra hard to make it meaningful. “We’re forecasting that $171 billion we think will be spent in advertising targeting local audiences across the 16 media we track,” Ducey said. “The fastest growing media will be a category we call PC laptop. Basically, it’s ads targeting that device type. And then OTT, which is mostly streaming content to TV sets.”
More specifically, Borell believes digital growth is to be expected but in order to achieve healthy growth, “You have to be phenomenally aggressive in digital. Because this year for most radio stations, their radio sales have declined three, four, five percent.” Borrell went on to say, “Next year, television is going to see five, ten, twelve percent declines in broadcast. So, to get that to maintain growth, you get my point. To maintain growth, you’re going to have to drive really significant digital dollars.”
Looking at radio specifically, Hulvey noted, “As we move into a post-election environment, having local, regional, and national advertisers utilizing radio in all its forms sets up a positive path in 2025. As for a specific growth objective, we have seen national partners such as BIA indicate 5% growth is plausible in their various models. Radio has many factors in its favor; we must continue to collaborate, engage, and embrace those opportunities in pursuit of growth.”
Outlets also can’t forget about subscription., “For news media brands, it means striking a balance between ad revenue, subscription growth, and new digital products,” Myers said. “Sustainable growth focuses on strengthening the brand’s value proposition to both advertisers and audiences. A healthy growth trajectory might also involve leveraging data and analytics to understand audience behaviors and better serve their needs, ultimately driving loyalty and creating more opportunities for advertisers. In a non-political year, maintaining or slightly growing revenue through these diversified approaches indicates a robust and adaptable strategy.”
Passwaiter noted 2025 can be fruitful with a push for digital. “If you’ve got radio and local television and still have this annoying habit of working really well for local merchants and in combination with some of the digital assets that these guys have, they’ve got a lot of juice. I hope they realize how much they have, and they’ve been in the markets for a long time. That experience means something.”
Krystina Alarcon Carroll is a news media columnist and features writer for Barrett Media. She has experience in almost every facet of the industry including: digital and print news; live, streamed, and syndicated TV; documentary and film productions. Her prior employers have included NY1 and Fox News Digital and the Law & Crime Network. You can find Krystina on X (formerly twitter) @KrystinaAlaCarr.
