Digital ad revenue for local radio stations is expected to increase by more than $100 million this year. According to RAB’s “Radio’s Digital Sales Inch Closer to $1 Billion” report, digital ad revenue totaled $804 million last year. This year, $949 million is the expected revenue amount.

According to the study, individual local radio stations are doing pretty well for themselves when utilizing digital ads. Last year, stations averaged more than $256,321 in digital ad revenue, with 97% of radio advertisers taking advantage of digital ads. Not only that, 57% of radio stations spotlight their digital ad offerings in each sales pitch they make. And why not? RAB found that roughly 25% of radio customers buy digital ads from them. By the end of this year, digital ads are expected to account for more than 10% of radio stations’ ad revenue.

Who's Listening?

Radio has a broader reach than many people give it credit for. For example, according to AudienceSCAN, 6% of U.S. adults listen to the radio via AM/​FM stations, satellite radio AND via the internet everywhere they go every day. And that’s just the number of people who are radio junkies. On a daily basis, 67.1% of U.S. adults listen to the radio in their cars, 32.8% tune in at home and 12.9% listen to the radio at work. Online Local Radio Station Listeners make up 11.2% of U.S. adults and Mobile Local Radio Station Users account for 9.2% of adults in the country.

Further advertising information, as well as future purchase intent for these and more radio-​based audiences, can be found in their profiles on AudienceSCAN on AdMall by SalesFuel. There, you can gain insight on the perfect mix of media to utilize for your clients’ next advertising campaign that includes radio.

What are you waiting for? Reach out to your clients about the prominence of local stations’ digital ads!