The Irish radio sector saw advertising revenues jump by 9% to €158.1 million in 2022, according to newly released figures from Radiocentre Ireland.
The ad spend figures compares with an overall growth of 2% across the wider advertising market and indicate that the radio sector is increasing its share of the total advertising market in Ireland.
According to Radiocentre Ireland, revenue growth was recorded across many categories with retail growing by 20% while revenue from the finance category was up 11%. Elsewhere, advertising income from entertainment and media was up 53% while the return of travel meant that this sector also saw a very large revenue increase, up 54%.
The Government continued to be a very big investor in radio, coming in as the second highest category of spend, after retail. Supply issues in 2022 meant that revenue from the motor category was curtailed but this category is expected to show very strong growth in 2023.
The Radiocentre Ireland figures show that €125.6m came from traditional spot spot revenue, a 7% increase on 2021. Branded content revenue (sponsorships, partnerships, content solutions) amounted to €27.1 million, up 12%. while digital audio revenue continued its rapid growth, rising by 55% to €5.4m, although this does not include revenues generated by global platforms like Spotify or Acast.
Radiocentre Ireland estimates that there will be strong growth again for radio in 2023 with a predicted growth of 6.6%.
“While other media report declining audiences, broadcast radio continues to delivers unrivalled and consistent audience numbers with 9 out of 10 people listening every week,” says Ciaran Cunningham, CEO of Radiocentre Ireland.
“And the strong growth in digital audio reflects advertisers ability to communicate in an intimate one-to-one environment, but with all the tracking, targeting, behavioural and contextual opportunities that you get from visual digital activity. It is great to see that advertisers understand the power of audio, are investing strongly in the medium reflected in the 9% growth recorded in 2022, which is significantly ahead of growth for the total advertising market. And we are confident that the strength of the medium will again deliver strong growth in 2023,” he says.
