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Marketron hosted its Review for Radio webinar on Thursday afternoon, and the company shared how radio and revenue goals have changed and will continue to do so in the future.
Political advertising reached new heights in 2024, with nearly $11 billion being spent during the election cycle. And while many radio companies were buoyed by that increased spending, it was really digital that led the way.
Marketron shared that digital was one of the biggest growth sectors of radio companies in 2024. The company’s leaders argued that the category should be more widely adopted for future success.
“It’s clear that the industry is in the middle of a transition,” Marketron CEO Jimshade Chaudhari said. “And broadcasters have to evolve. They have to evolve and have to continue to grow their revenue. And in different ways than they have been doing historically. Our philosophy is really to help broadcasters and grow their business.”
“I don’t think it’s news to many on this call … that in 2024, excluding political advertising, most markets are seeing flat or negative traditional over-the-air advertising growth,” added Marketron General Manager of Traffic and Senior Vice President of Client Services Jeff London. “That trend line seems to continue into the near future based on some industry reports. We’re seeing the same thing with our customers. But digital revenue has been the bright spot on most of the quarterly reports. Several studies have shown that an airtime schedule with a digital complement is like a superpower. It drives advertising results.”
“We believe we’ve reached this critical point as an industry that digital needs to be part of every single advertising package sold by a broadcaster. It has to be native. It has to be in our DNA and built into our operating systems,” London continued.
Much has been made about the change from Nielsen to measure qualified listening times by three minutes instead of five minutes. Marketron believes that’s a positive signal for the industry moving forward.
“The stations are going to see higher ratings. Typically, when you see higher ratings, that’s gonna boost spot rates and boost demand for the audience from media buyers as well,” London said, adding that it helps “make a stronger case for radio” with media buyers that advertisers need the medium in their marketing plans.
Chaudhari added that three sectors likely to see advertising growth in 2025 include restaurants, retail, and real estate.
“Those three categories, for different reasons, have the opportunity to increase their share of digital advertising,” Chaudhari said, noting that some of the sectors haven’t returned to their pre-pandemic levels just yet. He added that recruitment advertising will be just as prevalent as product advertising for some of those sectors.
